This piece first appeared on Sensible Med on 5/3/2023. The Legal Challenges to ABMS Maintenance of Certification ABMS board certification is not voluntary (despite ABMS member board claims), especially as specialization in medicine is the norm today. And thanks to regulatory capture, physicians who work at ACGME-accredited medical training hospitals in particular must pay for and participate in ..read more

This piece first appeared on Sensible Med on 4/26/2023. If you’re a board-certified internist, you’re probably quite familiar with the controversy surrounding the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) that began when lifelong board certification mysteriously became time-limited in 1990. Physicians were told the justification for this change was that doctors needed to keep up with ..read more

With the ongoing forcing of participation in Maintenance of Certification (MOC) of US physicians by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)and its 24 member boards, we are seeing the slow demise of physician-selected Continuing Medical Education (CME) in America. Attendance at specialty society meetings is at an all-time low. Doctors, increasingly employed and facing the reality of how ..read more

In late July 2021, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), a non-profit self-selected lobbying organization for US state medical boards, issued a press release threatening suspension or revocation of medical licenses for physicians that “generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation.” The American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Pediatrics, and ..read more

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I must announce that on Thursday this past week, the United States 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and upheld the earlier District Court dismissal of the antitrust, racketeering and unjust enrichment lawsuit filed by four internists in December 2018. An attorney for the ..read more

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that certifies "internists and (medical) subspecialists who demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for excellent patient care." According to the IRS, "In general, no organization may qualify for section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence ..read more

The following (redacted) email was received from Morgan Allen, Customer Relationship Advocate at the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), in response to an ABIM diplomate that was unable register online for their every-two year Knowledge Check-In "continuous" Maintenance of Certification (MOC®) product.According to this email, it seems the ABIM has decided to end its Knowledge Check-In ..read more

The transcribed 3rd Circuit Appellate Court arguments held 23 Oct 2020 between Mr. Philip Curley (lead attorney representing the physician Plaintiffs) and Ms. Leslie John (representing the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)) are now available for US physician review. The appeal was filed after the 3rd Circuit District Court dismissed the Plaintiffs complaints before discovery because, as ..read more

Today, the first amended class action anti-trust complaint was filed by Drs. Emily Elizabeth Lazarou and Aafaque Akhter against the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in response to Judge Martha Pacold's 11 Sep 2020 dismissal without prejudice of their earlier complaint. Much of the Amended Complaint is noteworthy, but ..read more

As treasurer of Practicing Physicians of America, it gives me great pleasure to announce that we hit our goal of raising $400,000 in support of the Plaintiff-physicians who filed class action antitrust lawsuits against the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Radiology, and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Over 1,800 individuals, the vast majority of whom are ..read more