When the Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
- Aristole
Since May 2018, over 1,600 physicians have made over 1900 contributions to our GoFundMe effort in support of physician plaintiffs involved in three class action antitrust lawsuits against the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the American Board of Radiology (ABR), and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - September 20, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Source Type: blogs
Plaintiff Lawyer Explains ABMS Medical Board Lawsuits
This past Saturday, A Zoom video conference sponsored by Citizen Health.io was held with the members of Practicing Physicians of America's (PPA) board and an invited speaker, Laura Feldman, one of the plaintiff attorneys with Robinson Curley, P.C. - the law firm that has brought suits against several American Board of Medical Specialty (ABMS) member boards. For my reader's convenience, I took the (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - September 19, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Source Type: blogs
American Board of Emergency Medicine Resorts to Adhesion Contract to Limit Its Liability and Legal Costs
A question posed recently by a physician on Facebook:
Can anyone tell me if this is legal? I have to check the American Board of Emergency Medicine's website for info regarding MOC and the Concert Exam. In order to have access, I have to agree to this statement. This leaves me no choice, yet MOC is mandatory. It feels like blackmail. And would this b e enforceable in a class action lawsuit? (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 29, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Source Type: blogs
ACP Supports ABIM Plans for More Continuous Certification
Yesterday, the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a press release in support of the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) plans to develop a new "longitudinal continuous certification" educational product to maintain their initial board certification. In that press release, they confirmed that this "option" was in response the the American Board of Medical Specialties' (ABMS) (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 29, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Source Type: blogs
American Board of Emergency Medicine Resorts to Adhesion Contract to Limit Its Liability and Legal Costs
A question posed recently by a physician on Facebook:
Can anyone tell me if this is legal? I have to check the American Board of Emergency Medicine's website for info regarding MOC and the Concert Exam. In order to have access, I have to agree to this statement. This leaves me no choice, yet MOC is mandatory. It feels like blackmail. And would this b e enforceable in a class action lawsuit? (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 28, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: DrWes Source Type: blogs
Assuring Longitudinal Physician Exploitation and Burnout
ABIM Email Notification
His day started at 07:15 AM with two planned atrial fibrillation ablation procedures and an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) implantation scheduled. As the day progressed, another unscheduled ICD was added, then three emergent pacemakers had to be implanted. Squeezed between the cases were rounds, inpatient consults, phone calls, post-op checks, emails, EMR (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 25, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Source Type: blogs
Assuring Longitudinal Physician Exploitation and Burnout
ABIM Email Notification
His day started at 07:15 AM with two planned atrial fibrillation ablation procedures and an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) implantation scheduled. As the day progressed, another unscheduled ICD was added, then three emergent pacemakers had to be implanted. Squeez ed between the cases were rounds, inpatient consults, phone calls, post-op checks, emails, EMR (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 24, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: DrWes Source Type: blogs
MOC Issue Embroils EP Community
After I circulated my fund-raising video two weeks ago to the Electrophysiology Community via the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) closed message board, a firestorm of challenges to the HRS leadership have erupted online. At their core, the HRS is now under increasing pressure to decide with whom they side: (1) their physician membership or (2) other corporate interests. The exchange has become so (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 15, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Source Type: blogs
AntiMOC Lawsuit Update
As the summer winds on, I have been approached by more and more people who would like an update on where the litigation filed against the many member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties stand since the lawsuits were filed. I will do my best to briefly summarize the status of those lawsuits as I understand them. (For background on why these lawsuits have been filed against so (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - August 1, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Tags: American Board of Internal Medicine lawsuit Source Type: blogs
Why the U.S. Specialty Boards Were Sued and Why Those Lawsuits Are Important
I hope every working U.S. physician takes 9 minutes to view this video on why the lawsuits against the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member boards were filed and why those lawsuits are so important to our profession.
Please view and share with your colleagues.
An update on the status of those lawsuits will appear on this blog's pages soon.
-Wes (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - July 30, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Tags: ABIM ABMS American Board of Internal Medicine board certification GoFundMe lawsuit Maintenance of Certification MOC physicians Source Type: blogs
