Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Who Is the ABIM Chief Medical Officer?

Drs. Richard G. Battaglia and Richard Baron
(Image from the ABIM Blog)
Who is Richard G. Battaglia, MD?

In 2015, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) announced Richard G. Battalgia, MD as their new Chief Medical Officer (CMO). This was the same year the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) paid $922,479 to PriceWaterhouseCooper LLP (PwC) for "Management Consulting:"
What the ABIM website fails to mention with their announcement, is that Mr. Battaglia worked for PwC for 14 years, 3 months before being "hired" by the ABIM.

Is Dr. Battaglia, the ABIM CMO, concerned about medical education of physicians or merely a consultant purchased by the American Board of Medical Specialties to "clean up" the ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) mess?

The ABIM website only says this about their CMO:
"Dr. Battaglia, a board certified internist, is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). There, he leads ABIM's effort to incorporate feedback from practicing physicians and key stakeholders into clinical aspects of all of ABIM activities, including Certification and Maintenance of Certification (MOC).

Previously, Dr. Battaglia served as a primary care internist with Health Care Plan/Univera, a multi-specialty, staff model practice in Western New York before transitioning into leadership roles, including Medical Director of the Medical Centers Division and Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs/Corporate Medical Director. He also served as Medical Director/Chief Medical Officer of large multispecialty medical groups in Western New York. He has participated in national quality initiatives focused on physician group practice and health maintenance organizations. For more than 10 years, he devoted time to The National Committee for Quality Assurance, including a term as Chairman of the committee charged with accreditation decision-making. Most recently, he was a consultant (emphasis mine) for national and international organizations, including academic medical centers, health systems, community hospitals, medical groups, payers and national physician certification organizations.

Dr. Battaglia received a biochemistry degree from Canisius College, a Jesuit institution in Buffalo, NY. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Battaglia completed his residency through the University of Rochester Primary Care Program in Internal Medicine and also served as Chief Resident."
Maybe PwC's "Unifying Thread" of using (physician) data is the real reason Dr. Battalia promotes "continuous certification" and MOC:
Data is the unifying thread across seven policy areas we highlight here. Privacy, antitrust, tax, regulation of artificial intelligence, and trade are converging around the collection, sharing and security of data.
Physicians subjected to lifelong payments to ABMS member boards for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and Continuous Certification (CC) should know about Mr. Dr. Battaglia's PwC connection. Just like they should have known about Christine Cassel, MD's connections to Premier, Inc, Kaiser, and CECity, and Dr. Wachter's connections to the The Hospitalist Company and Teamhealth.

When considering patient safety and care quality, a corporate, non-clinical, damage-control medical consultant for a Fortune 500 accounting firm should not be Chief Medical Officer of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

-Wes

16 comments:

PwC: Welcome to Healthcare's House of Cards said...

Why doesn't the ABIM's Chief Medical Officer have a medical license to practice medicine/conduct research/work in the state of Pennsylvania where the ABIM has their offices and conducts business?

Battaglia's been working at the ABIM in Philly five years. Are the ABIM top ranks and their CMO trying to hide something avoiding the scrutiny of the Pennsylvania medical boards?

How did Battaglia get a certification status as "participating in MOC" when he never had any interest in "recertification" before being appointed CMO of the ABIM by PwC and ABMS.
Has he taken a MOC exam? Been to a Pearson Vue testing center? I think we know the answers to those questions.

Lorna's por favor alumni?

ABMS Singapore Payoffs said...

Profits from ABMS International subsidiary appear in the ABMS tax forms at under top contractors. ABMS Singapore via 12 ABMS medical boards supplies testing materials for the Ministry of Health in Singapore. The ABMS only lists two of their subcontractors. American Board of OB GYN and American Board of Surgery.

The payout to Pearson NCS is for testing presumably. Confusing? The ABMS runs its own private for profit medical board in Singapore without requireing MOC. The other boards are in on the "sham" medical certificates the ABMS offers there.
https://home.pearsonvue.com/mohs

Half of the ABMS medical boards get money off the Singapore testing scam. It is a kind of hush money in exchange for not saying anything about the fact that the ABMS has a double standard in Singapore. MOC is not required.
Certification for life is what they offer in Singapore. (Routine CME is documented. That's it.) Why is Singapore an enlightened ABMS state and not the United States? MOC is mandated only in the United States. The ABMS does not even offer voluntary recertification!

Ed Rico said...

It appears that Dr. Battaglia’s mission was to polish an ABIM-specific form of PwC’s corporate culture: “Connect-Embed-Improve” becomes a smoke screen to obscure the actual ABIM culture of Coerce-Extort-Interfere. H/T Wikipedia

It’s obvious to the most casual observer that cash (and lots of it) is the true “unifying thread” for ABIM continuous certification and #MOC.

Anonymous said...

Who is the ABIM's CEO? He was "hired" in 2001, yet we don't know who Rich Baron really is.
What/who does he represent?


"With executives split on preferred policy outcomes, this is the appropriate time to up engagement. But how? PwC’s 2020 policy guide focuses on the shifts that are likely to define the year and the influencers, both regulators and non-regulators, to watch." - PwC

Anonymous said...

PwC is a London based "fortune 100" company with large profits coming out of the US. It is obvious that the ABIM is not "of the profession" or "for the public", they are aligned with private equity, special interests, and the fortune 500 elites.

https://big4accountingfirms.com/pwc-fortune-500-ranking/

The Total Destruction of Security and Privacy said...

Who is Benjamin Mannes? (ABIM's undisclosed "Director of Investigations")

https://www.securetechalliance.org/city-of-los-angeles-to-deploy-supercoms-irms-mobile-credentialing-and-handheld-verification-system/

What is Caveon. What are their links to the Middle East? (Caveon is an ABMS contractor that spies on physicians without their permission. Is the ABMS spying on international clients?)

https://www.indeed.com/q-Arabic-Analyst-jobs.html?vjk=6c3bd97262b58b0b

Why does the ABMS/ABIM need to surveil physicians and collect data on them. Where does the data end up? For what purpose are all the data being collected, analyzed and sold many times over?

Creepy when you think about it. Is it legal what the ABMS/ABIM is doing? Is it ethical?

What data is being fed to PwC? To what end?

https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/insights/industry-trends/2018-defense.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pwc-booz-merger/pwc-gobbles-up-booz-co-as-big-4-rebuild-in-consulting-idUSBRE99T0N720131030?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563

ABMS MOC-FREE ZONE said...

The ABMS certifies for life in Singapore. NO MOC!

How do they get away with the hypocrisy? Through their for-profit alter ego ABMS International and it for-profit subsidiary ABMS Singapore.

Grey Lady said...

Award

Medicine's House of Cards is one of the best pieces of reporting and whistle blowing in the healthcare industry. This blog posting should have been a front page headline article in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and ProPublica.

Dr. Fisher deserves thanks and awards for his rare reporting and dedication to the profession of medicine. There are very living today with such a high standard of ethics today.

Thank you, Dr. Fisher, for your dedication to science, health and truth. You are a great asset to your institution, community this great country.

Anonymous said...

Physicians are being treated as though they are guilty of crimes. Doctors are deceived by being told (by ABMS) they need MOC ankle monitors, with all the illegal data collections that goes with it. Physicians are forced to sign legal contracts that bind them to MOC, which gives their rights away. Verbiage in the "pledge" indemnifies the ABMS medical boards. This is wrong. In any lawful society it is a violation of rights.

Corruption Class 101 said...

Control physicians and you control a trillion dollar industry. MOC is part of the lever.

Christine Cassel, Bob Wachter, Ann Greiner and the great NQF/NCQA/ABIM cover-up

"[Chuck] Denham has denied taking kickbacks and said the $11.6 million he received from CareFusion was for legitimate contract work. He also runs the nonprofit Texas Medical Institute of Technology, which focuses on quality of care.

Quality Forum officials declined ProPublica’s interview requests. But the group’s chief executive, Dr. Christine Cassel, told the trade publication Modern Healthcare her staff found that “there is not evidence that (ChloraPrep) is any better than anything else” at preventing central-line infections.

On Thursday, Cassel said she would resign from the boards of two large health care companies that were paying her hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Ethics experts said the outside relationships presented a conflict because the companies have financial interests in Quality Forum endorsements.

In its statement Friday, the group said it had updated its conflict-of-interest policy for board members and would also review policies governing sponsors, such as health care companies, that donate to the organization. Over several years, Denham's nonprofit had contributed $725,000 to the Quality Forum.

In addition, a committee of experts is auditing the 2010 safe practices guidelines, which are currently in effect, and make recommendations that will be available for public comment by March 31."

Who do the ABMS and 24 Medical Specialty Boards Serve? said...

MOC is a corrupt scheme of control. It was a corrupt scheme from the beginning, it is corrupt schem today. And the corruption surrounding the ABMS MOC mandate is only getting worse. MOC is not just a Ponzi scheme to line the pockets of ABMS executives and their archipelago of associate "non-profit" partner organizations, but MOC/ABMS executives illicitly serve as a proxy enhancing the bottom lines of healthcare corporations. They control physicians and conduct business behind closed doors, which is definitely not in keeping with the original mission/bylaws of any ABMS member board. They keep their scam going by deceiving the public and profession falsely asserting that MOC has value to the public and profession. But more importantly and more heinous the ABMS executives and board officers/members have been selling out the profession of medicine and the public (patients) for decades by serving their corporate masters. They are also hoarding cash that should serve the public good not stashed offshore for executives golden parachutes or stuffed away in their growing investment coffers, propaganda/lobbying campaigns and illicit war chests. The ABMS and member boards have been conducting for-profit activities behind all our backs offshore and domestically for decades to line their pockets improperly using physician and taxpayer fees and boons.

ABMS/PwC Singapore said...

ABMS/PwC in Singapore: Gateway to Asian Economies

Why are the ACGME-International, ABMS-International, ABMS-Singapore, and half of the ABMS medical specialty boards in Singapore?

Who is piggybacking off of who in Singapore? Does the ABIM Chief Medical Officer's undisclosed work history* and ABMS "payouts" to PwC provide us with any answers?

https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-singapore/

*physicians must not leave out any educational/work history under penalty of state medical board of Pennsylvania

Singapore Healthcare Market Report
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/singapore-healthcare-market-report-2018---forecast-to-2022-300767339.html

Taxpayer money is being improperly used to aid corporations by falsely presenting the ABMS as a not-for-profit. How appropriate is it to hide for-profit activities through various shadow organizations/subsidiaries whose true agendas is being hidden from physicians and the public (taxpayer).

Millions of dollars are garnered annually by the ABMS executives through its Atlanta based for-profit data collection corporation doing business as ABMS Solutions. Who inures themselves with these proceeds from for-profit domestic and foreign sources?

A number of other "foundations" at the umbrella and member organizations further enhance corporate executive payouts and investment accounts.

PwC Data, Data, and More Data said...

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare - PwC

From Virtual
to Reality
Six imperatives for
becoming an AI-ready
healthcare business

Adapting AI in Healthcare: Why Change said...

PwC is driving AI hard for its clients. The ABIM is too.

Anonymous said...

Singapore and PwC

Be the Future with PwC
https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/publications/assets/be-the-future-201810.pdf

PwC is pleased to be partnering with the
UK Department for International Trade
to bring the largest ever delegation of
over 30 ground-breaking technology
companies to its new Marina One
offices in Singapore, to secure business
opportunities with companies from
around the region. This Technology
Mission underlines the continued
strengthening of the UK – Singapore
trading relationship through technology.

Workplace Singapore
https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/publications/assets/healthcare-future-workplace-2018.pdf

Digital Health ROI
https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/publications/assets/digital-health-roi-2017.pdf

Pharma Lifesciences
https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/industries/pharmaceutical-and-lifesciences.html

Digital Health Leap
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/high-growth-markets/assets/the-digital-healthcare-leap.pdf

__________________________________________________________________________________________

PwC Austrailia from blockchain to AI
https://www.pwc.com.au/health/adopting-ai-in-healthcare.html

PwC Philadelphia and Buffalo said...

Outside Sources of Income for the ABIM executives, officers, including their CMO?

Where is the ABIM CMO paying his personal taxes? Pennsylvania or New York? (He lives in New York, based on public records, and the ABIM claims he works full time at ABIM's Philadelphia headquarters for the past five years?)

The ABIM lied about the CMO's work history. Are they also lying about his outside sources of relevant income.

Are there any outside sources of relevant income that are not disclosed by the CMO or any other ABIM executive or officer? Or are the obscene paychecks they already get sufficient to maintain their largess and wholesale attacks on the profession of medicine?

The ABIM lied about Christine Cassel's* egregious conflicts of interest and the millions of dollars she received from relevant outside sources of income. Kaiser and Premier.

Cassel took millions from the ABIM's captured MOC clients (physicians and taxpayers) in order for Cassel to lobby in Washington DC where for years she advanced her own financial interests and political agendas.

ABIM/ABIMF CEO, Cassel advanced the financial interests of Premier, Inc. and Kaiser Permanente and others without disclosing any of it. She worked as a political operative during her tenure.

Are the ABMS/ABIM in conflicted business relationships with PwC or any other "consultants" not in line with their mission or job descriptions? Has anything/everything been disclosed to the public and IRS? The answer to that is no!

PwC has two convenient locations for the ABIM and their CMO to conduct business and "consult".

PwC Philly is 15 minutes from ABIM and the ABIM Foundation.

PwC Buffalo is where the ABIM CMO Battaglia worked for 14 years and 3 months. Convenient location for a resident of Buffalo, New York (not Pennsylvania)

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/AMERICAN+BOARD+OF+INTERNAL+MEDICINE,+Walnut+Street,+Philadelphia,+PA/PricewaterhouseCoopers+LLP,+2001+Market+St+%231800,+Philadelphia,+PA+19103/@39.951036,-75.1710827,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c6c8846dc732c3:0x4b578e6a793f7117!2m2!1d-75.1504829!2d39.9474811!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c6c631d89c54e5:0x43f87b3a196bbf71!2m2!1d-75.1737369!2d39.9541648!3e0

*Cassel was granted a physician and surgeon's license (expired) during here tenure as CEO of the ABIM. Her physical address states Washington, DC, where she focused her attention. Where is the CMO Battaglia's Pennsylvania medical license if he is a physician working with the ABIM in Philadelphia? He has no Pennsylvania license, placing the ABIM's claim that Battaglia is an ABIM physician (chief medical officer) impossible to accept. The ABIM needs to respond to this profound misstatement and lack of proper disclosure. Personal tax forms for all executives and officers should be made available to the public, so the ABIM executives can make good on their commitment to transparency and their hypocritical "trust campaign".