Profession
Some specialty boards aim to raise patient awareness
■ Board leaders said certification can be a valuable tool for assessing doctors.
By Damon Adams — Posted June 18, 2007
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Certifying board leaders want your patients to do a more thorough check to see if you are board certified.
A study in the June issue of the Journal of Pediatrics found that in eight states an average 11% of physicians who say they are pediatricians in state licensure files had not been board certified as pediatricians by the American Board of Pediatrics.
Researchers also said 12% of surveyed physicians in those states considered themselves pediatricians but had not completed pediatric residency training.
Many patients are not aware if their physician is board certified.
"[The study] is a heads-up to the public to question people who are providing care," said ABP President James A. Stockman III, MD, whose board commissioned the study.
Researchers examined state licensure data for active physicians in two states for each region of the nation: Ohio and Wisconsin, Texas and Mississippi, Massachusetts and Maryland and Oregon and Arizona. The list of physicians who identified themselves as pediatricians to licensing agencies was then matched to the ABP's list of board-certified pediatricians.
"Most parents likely assume their physicians are board certified if they are identified as a particular specialist," said lead author Gary L. Freed, MD, MPH, director of the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. "We found a significant proportion of [doctors] claiming to be pediatricians who have never been board certified."
Massachusetts had the lowest percentage (6.9%) of physicians who identified themselves as pediatricians but had no record of certification with the ABP. Maryland had the highest percentage (16.8%).
Researchers also surveyed physicians in the eight states who had no ABP certification but reported to be pediatricians to state licensing agencies. Of the 255 respondents, about half claimed they were board certified, with some saying they were certified by boards other than the ABP.
At a time of increased public awareness of patient safety, researchers said board certification can be a valuable tool in assessing doctors.
"Increasingly, hospitals and health plans will require board certification, and the public will require board certification as a measure of physician competence as it relates to patient safety," Dr. Freed said.
Sheldon D. Horowitz, MD, special adviser to the president of the American Board of Medical Specialties, said more than 85% of licensed physicians are certified by at least one ABMS board. "People are very good consumers when they buy TVs and cars. They probably need to be as vigilant when they're getting care for themselves and family members," he said.
Some doctors may practice pediatrics but not be board certified for several reasons, one being they did not complete an approved training program, physician leaders said. In addition, some family physicians and osteopathic physicians practice pediatrics but are not certified by the ABP.
A related editorial in the journal by Seattle pediatrician F. Bruder Stapleton, MD, said some state licensing applications do not ask for board certification. The piece also noted that some pediatricians are certified by boards other than the ABP.
Dr. Freed said more state licensing boards should require proof of specialty instead of allowing physician self-designation on license forms.
"Licensing boards, if they are going to list specialty, should consider verifying the specialty credentials of the physicians in their states," he said.