Hirsh and Meyers espouse that same party line of the many private non
-governmental agencies (and academics who will personally benefit from
this program) who wish to impose private interest group-unproven corporate
interests upon practicing physicians. They continue to state MOC is
"voluntary" and then describe the many ways these "non-profit"
corporations (who earn handsomely and have over $400 million in assets and
as great yearly gross receipts!) will see this product forced on
physicians. HOWEVER, Working physicians do not want or even see any value
in this unproven imposition:
The American Medical Association (AMA) developed the Physician's
Recognition Award (PRA) in the late 1960's as the validation program for
Continuing Medical Education (CME), embraced by most, but not all states,
to validate physician "lifelong learning" as the educational component of
re-licensure. Recently, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB),
Inc., a multimillion dollar, non-profit and non-governmental corporation,
targeted the State of Ohio as the first of 11 pilot states to implement
their corporate brand of MOL (Ohio., Calif., Colo., Del., Iowa, Mass.,
Mississippi, Okla., Ore., Va., Wis.).
On May 19, 2012, the Ohio State Medical Association, as the first Ohio
physician organization, formally resolved at the state meeting to oppose
the FSMB MOL program. (1) OSMA recognized early that FSMB MOL was the
unwarranted regulatory capture of physician licensure: the act of securing
corporate income through legislation. (2) An intense battle over FSMB MOL
ensued within the State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO), zealously led by two
FSMB board members, who also occupied the SMBO Executive Director and one
senior Board member positions. On October 5, 2012, the OSMA drafted with
10 other state medical associations, representing over 15,000 physicians,
a formal resolution of opposition directed to the SMBO. (3) The defeat of
the FSMB MOL proposal by SMBO vote followed on October 11, 2012.
In the aftermath, the two FSMB board members serving on the SMBO were
formally reviewed. The Executive Director of the SMBO was ousted October
12th and formal investigations regarding violations of conflict of
interests continue regarding the senior SMBO member. (4) Subsequent
communications with legal offices of the SMBO and OSMA concluded that: 1)
FSMB MOL was not advocated by any other corporate, government or consumer
groups, no deficiency of AMA PRA CME programs or physician competency
issues were identified in Ohio and 2) FSMB MOL initiative appeared solely
promulgated by the FSMB as a corporate mandate. It continues to be
actively advocated by FSMB in 9 states and must be either fought or
approved in each state. FSMB MOL serves primarily corporate coffers and
false reassurance through testing vs CME. Effective physician opposition
is primarily possible via grass-roots resolutions at state level. We must
inform and support all state organizations at this time regarding FSMB
MOL, using this "Ohio experience" as evidence and instruction in opposing
this regulatory capture of physicians, solely for corporate profits. (5)
The assertions by the Certification industrial complex including the ABMS
that MOC and MOL are "Done deals" is simple propaganda-nothing more!
References:
1) Ohio State Medical Association Statement on MOL. Available at:
http://www.osma.org/files/pdf/facts-maintenance-of-licensure-final-.pdf
Accessed 10/27/12
2)Kempen PM: Maintenance of Certification (MOC), Maintenance of
Licensure (MOL), and Continuing Medical Education (CME):the Regulatory
Capture of Medicine. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 2012;
17:72-5. Available at: http://www.jpands.org/vol17no3/kempen.pdf Accessed
10/27/12
3) Kumar D et al: Joint letter from 11 medical societies to the SMBO.
Available at:
http://www.itraumaohio.org/aws/OACEP/asset_manager/get_file/54757/2012.10.5_joint_mol_letter_to_medical_board.pdf
Accessed 10/27/12
4) Alan Johnson In The Columbus Dispatch Thursday October 18, 2012 6:07
AM: State medical board ousts chief Available at:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/10/18/state-medical-
board-ousts-chief.html Accessed 10/27/12
5)Kempen PM: What to do about MOC and MOL? Available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS15Dmsk7E Accessed Nov 1, 2012
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
Hirsh and Meyers espouse that same party line of the many private non -governmental agencies (and academics who will personally benefit from this program) who wish to impose private interest group-unproven corporate interests upon practicing physicians. They continue to state MOC is "voluntary" and then describe the many ways these "non-profit" corporations (who earn handsomely and have over $400 million in assets and as great yearly gross receipts!) will see this product forced on physicians. HOWEVER, Working physicians do not want or even see any value in this unproven imposition:
The American Medical Association (AMA) developed the Physician's Recognition Award (PRA) in the late 1960's as the validation program for Continuing Medical Education (CME), embraced by most, but not all states, to validate physician "lifelong learning" as the educational component of re-licensure. Recently, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), Inc., a multimillion dollar, non-profit and non-governmental corporation, targeted the State of Ohio as the first of 11 pilot states to implement their corporate brand of MOL (Ohio., Calif., Colo., Del., Iowa, Mass., Mississippi, Okla., Ore., Va., Wis.). On May 19, 2012, the Ohio State Medical Association, as the first Ohio physician organization, formally resolved at the state meeting to oppose the FSMB MOL program. (1) OSMA recognized early that FSMB MOL was the unwarranted regulatory capture of physician licensure: the act of securing corporate income through legislation. (2) An intense battle over FSMB MOL ensued within the State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO), zealously led by two FSMB board members, who also occupied the SMBO Executive Director and one senior Board member positions. On October 5, 2012, the OSMA drafted with 10 other state medical associations, representing over 15,000 physicians, a formal resolution of opposition directed to the SMBO. (3) The defeat of the FSMB MOL proposal by SMBO vote followed on October 11, 2012. In the aftermath, the two FSMB board members serving on the SMBO were formally reviewed. The Executive Director of the SMBO was ousted October 12th and formal investigations regarding violations of conflict of interests continue regarding the senior SMBO member. (4) Subsequent communications with legal offices of the SMBO and OSMA concluded that: 1) FSMB MOL was not advocated by any other corporate, government or consumer groups, no deficiency of AMA PRA CME programs or physician competency issues were identified in Ohio and 2) FSMB MOL initiative appeared solely promulgated by the FSMB as a corporate mandate. It continues to be actively advocated by FSMB in 9 states and must be either fought or approved in each state. FSMB MOL serves primarily corporate coffers and false reassurance through testing vs CME. Effective physician opposition is primarily possible via grass-roots resolutions at state level. We must inform and support all state organizations at this time regarding FSMB MOL, using this "Ohio experience" as evidence and instruction in opposing this regulatory capture of physicians, solely for corporate profits. (5) The assertions by the Certification industrial complex including the ABMS that MOC and MOL are "Done deals" is simple propaganda-nothing more!
References: 1) Ohio State Medical Association Statement on MOL. Available at: http://www.osma.org/files/pdf/facts-maintenance-of-licensure-final-.pdf Accessed 10/27/12
2)Kempen PM: Maintenance of Certification (MOC), Maintenance of Licensure (MOL), and Continuing Medical Education (CME):the Regulatory Capture of Medicine. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 2012; 17:72-5. Available at: http://www.jpands.org/vol17no3/kempen.pdf Accessed 10/27/12 3) Kumar D et al: Joint letter from 11 medical societies to the SMBO. Available at: http://www.itraumaohio.org/aws/OACEP/asset_manager/get_file/54757/2012.10.5_joint_mol_letter_to_medical_board.pdf Accessed 10/27/12 4) Alan Johnson In The Columbus Dispatch Thursday October 18, 2012 6:07 AM: State medical board ousts chief Available at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/10/18/state-medical- board-ousts-chief.html Accessed 10/27/12 5)Kempen PM: What to do about MOC and MOL? Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS15Dmsk7E Accessed Nov 1, 2012
Conflict of Interest:
None declared