The ABPN has also responded positively by forming an MOC clinical advisory committee to evaluate how MOC impacts practice and “potentially” improves patient care. Their use of the word “potentially” is particularly encouraging, because it implicitly suggests that evidence needs to be found to support that claim.
The future of board certification
The ABMS boards acknowledge that NBPAS exists as a legitimate alternative board, but they do not feel threatened at all. They are very confident that physicians, like sheep to be herded, will continue to blindly pay to do unnecessary work in the name of board certification.
Unfortunately for the ABMS boards, over 3,000 physicians have become diplomates of NBPAS, which has become accepted as a viable alternative to ABMS by an increasing number of hospital credentialing departments. It is only through an expanding number of diplomates that NBAPS can increase its acceptance and rival the inflexible, self-centered monopoly that ABMS has become.
With more institutions accepting NBPAS certification, the influence and leverage of NBPAS will grow, and physicians will be relieved of the burden of complying with costly and time-consuming requirements that do not improve practice. There is no harm in being dual-boarded, and becoming a diplomate of NBPAS prior to the expiration of an ABPN/ABMS board certification is a low-risk decision that supports a prophysician grassroots movement. During this time of unprecedented physician unity, organizations like NBPAS appear well positioned to help return the practice of medicine to physicians rather than detached administrators.
Dr. Mathew is a member of the Harvard Medical School Faculty. He is director of continuing medical education at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, John R. Graham Headache Center, and is a staff neurologist at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and the Cambridge Health Alliance. He also serves as the neurology representative on the volunteer advisory board of the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons.