The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) wishes to be
recorded in support for Senate bill 681, An Act Relative to the Maintenance of
Certification.
The MMS believes lifelong learning and continuing education
are hallmarks of the medical profession. MMS supports the Board of Registration
in Medicine’s approach of ensuring that all licensed physicians comply with
rigorous biennial continuing education requirements. MMS also supports the role
of initial “board certifications” which allow physicians an important avenue to
establish their expertise and/or specialization. MMS has concern, however,
about the system known as “maintenance of certification” which has proliferated
over the years by national medical specialty boards. These ongoing board
certification programs have been established above and beyond the initial board
certification. As currently constituted, they impose additional ongoing,
costly, and often irrelevant requirements on physicians to “maintain their
board certification.”
S.681 would prohibit the use of maintenance of certification
as a basis for physician licensure, hospital employment or credentialing, or
health plan reimbursement and/or credentialing. This bill does not limit the
use of initial board certification for licensure or credentialing, nor is it in
any way a statement in support of less learning by physicians or reduced
quality of care. It is simply an important assurance that this currently
imperfect system to maintain a board certification is not used inappropriately.
Maintenance of Certification is comprised of computer
modules, formal testing, and other activities that many physicians contend have
little or no perceived value with respect to quality improvement or competency
among the provider community. There are
no independent medical studies or evidence demonstrating the value of MOC in
terms of improved patient outcomes.
Instead, it is overly burdensome, costs physicians thousands of dollars,
and ironically, requires significant time away from practicing medicine and
taking care of patients. Until such time that this process becomes clinically
relevant and is truly associated with improved practice of medicine and patient
care, the use of this program muse be limited.
The MOC program generates
considerable costs and puts unreasonable demands on a physician’s time - with questionable value. S.681 will ensure that insurers and hospitals
will not require MOC as a basis for credentialing or employment until more
studies are done to weigh its impact on clinical and economic outcomes against
the high costs required by MOC, or until the boards see through their announced
initiatives to substantially remake the maintenance of certification programs
to be more clinically relevant and less burdensome. The MMS urges the Committee
on Public Health to support S.681 and report the bill out of Committee
favorably.
