What Patients Deserve From Physician Certifications
If you were severely ill and needed to pick a physician, would you want one who has been certified as meeting all of the current training, educational and professional standards set by a board of physicians? For many patients, it is very important for them to know that they are dealing with top-notch doctors who are completely current in their field of expertise, although some doctors may not see it that way.
Over the past year and a half, there has been an ongoing, often heated, debate regarding doctor recertification. Unfortunately, the most crucial voice has been left out. Patients are the individuals who will benefit the most from good recertification practices -- and who will be hurt the most if the recertification process is abandoned in favor of lackadaisical and unreliable self-assessment.
Most state medical boards require doctors to complete 25 hours of continuing education for licensure reregistration. But some states have far lower requirements than that, and a few states, including New York, South Dakota, Colorado, Indiana and Montana, do not require any hours at all.
To maintain the high standards expected of medical professionals, most doctors voluntarily choose to become certified by the relevant specialty board and then choose to participate in that board's maintenance of certification (MOC) program. These programs issue recertification exams between every 5-10 years, a process that prepares and subsequently tests the physician's knowledge of the latest advances in their field, along with patient safety best practices and communication practices. These programs help doctors recognize the areas in which they need improvement and keep them abreast of new knowledge in their field.
Where state licensure simply indicates that a practitioner holds their M.D. and is permitted to practice medicine, the MOC confirms that practitioner's specialization in any given area such as cardiology or endocrinology, and that they are current on the most recent advances in their field.
This type of independent assessment is critically important in assessing the abilities of individual doctors to safely care for patients. This is especially true considering research conducted by Dr. James Brent of Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City indicates that the doubling time of new medical knowledge has decreased to approximately 8 years. At current rates, a clinician will need to learn, unlearn and then relearn half of their medical knowledge base 5 times during a typical career.
A vocal group of doctors has taken issue with the recertification process, claiming that it is too burdensome, expensive and time-consuming, and that it does not improve the quality of patient care. Some doctors have called for their peers to boycott MOC programs, and some have even started their own programs.
The problem is that these types of "alternative" routes to recertification only require the bare minimum of self-assessment, or continuing education. This would certainly be easier for doctors, but patients deserve doctors who go above and beyond, testing their knowledge and improving their skills continually. Studies indicate that "physicians have a limited ability to accurately self-assess," and that "processes currently used to undertake professional development and evaluate competence may need to focus more on external assessment."
Common sense tells us that self-assessment is rarely an accurate indication of true competency. For that reason, tests are given at the completion of college courses to ensure students have learned the material needed to be successful in their area of study. The fact is that independent assessments are a reliable way to determine whether or not individuals are doing what needs to be done. Without this type of assessment in the medical field, how do we know that physicians are keeping up with the latest medical research and methods of treatment?
With the proliferation of Internet availability, many patients now have the ability to take their health care into their own hands. Patients seeking treatment from a wide range of medical professionals, from family practice physicians to surgeons, can research certification status, and even see reviews of the physician reported by other patients. Patients look for the qualifications that set doctors apart from one another, something that makes them more credible and trustworthy. Evidence of certification helps patients ensure they are in capable hands. Without a reliable comparison method, patients are left with a game of health care roulette, leaving their health and safety up to chance.
What's best for the patient should be a priority, instead of making things more convenient and easier for doctors. Rather than doctors continuing to encourage each other to boycott maintenance of certification and recertification, they should be encouraging their peers to increase the level of knowledge attained so that they can provide the best quality care possible for those that need it most, their patients. Consumers deserve better.
