Orthopaedic Board May Use Surgeon Scorecard in Certification Process

ProPublica has recently announced that the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, the board responsible for certifying orthopedic specialists, will use ProPublica’s Surgeon Scorecard to help assess the competency of its surgeons seeking recertification.
However, despite being reported on by ProPublica, the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery has issued a statement: “To all diplomats and the orthopaedic community. You may have read certain information from an online publication, ProPublica. It should be known that the ABOS Board of Directors has not discussed nor considered the use of any ProPublica’s scorecard or any data in any certification or credentialing process.”
ProPublica announced that the board will incorporate the Surgeon Scorecard’s rating into its recertification process and surgeons might be put on a watch list based on their Scorecard rating. Shephard Hurwitz, Executive Director of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, maintains that actions will not be taken based only on ProPublica’s Surgeon Scorecard, but instead, “in concert with other quality issues, could lead us to delay their recertification or require them to explain to us why they are having this high problem rate.”
Board certification is an important credential for surgeons and other specialists; many hospitals and insurance plans require affiliated doctors to be board certified, and many patients use it as an indicator of a surgeon’s credibility. The current recertific...

Source: Policy and Medicine - October 19, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Policy and Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs