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

Recently, there have been a rash of initiatives by unaccountable non-profit physician credentialing organizations (Federation of State Licensing Boards, the American Boards of  Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Pediatrics), and the American Medical Association to come to the public's rescue by targeting and de-credentialing U.S. physicians they accuse of spreading misinformation during the ..read more

 In late 2018 through 2020, The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) was involved in a class action antitrust lawsuit for claims of illegal creation and maintenance of their monopoly power in the market for maintenance of certification (MOC). Even though there was an outpouring of physician support for the lawsuit from working physicians, the case did not survive massive legal efforts to ..read more

It has been a long time since I have written anything concerning the American Board of Medical Specialties' (ABMS) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) board re-certification program. But when I read pieces in the media, like the one recently published in Medscape that spin the soothing narrative that MOC can become "kinder and gentler," I feel the need to speak out.Like a child bring groomed by ..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