Never heard of "grandfathered" certification

[Rich66]

Should ABIM "grandfathers" voluntarily recertify? The latest Clinical Decisions asks about a 55-year-old physician who practices internal medicine with a strong subspecialty in endocrinology. He holds time-unlimited certificates from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in both internal medicine and endocrinology, known as "grandfather" status because recertification is not required as it is for younger physicians. Should he voluntarily recertify, or is it not relevant to his practice? We asked you to read the argument presented for each side and comment about your choice. View those comments (http://click2.nejm.org/cts/click?q=137;67374340;YkRvJgWr4evQ8ZQx/yqHFs9wjhUMpPNjyARFjkpqrJc%3D) now.

I wonder if this is the case for oncology. Patients should know.

[Lani]

I think it exists for many of the fields that offer board certification in the various fields/specialties in medicine. It used to be that once certified, there was no further testing that a practitioner was keeping up-to-date, just a requirement for state licensing that so many CME credits were earned. In the 80s/90s I think, the surgical specialties particularly reconsidered that and began
requiring certified doctors to show evidence, either through tests or oversight of their work, that they were keeping up with advances and practicing the "standard of care"

In most of these fields, I have been led to believe, older practitioners ie, those who were initially board-certified many years before were "grandfathered" in and didn't have to undergo the repeated testing to stay board-certified.

It may be another reason to seek out doctors who were NOT initially board certified before the 80s. Some practitioners I understand voluntarily underwent recertification --their credentials should show that.

Perhaps the best thing to do is google the particular board certification society of the type of practitioner you are interested in and seek info on whether certification is life-long or requires periodic recertification.

[Lani]

Which ABMS Member Boards issue time-limited certificates, and where do I find more information about when time-limited certificates were first issued?
All 24 ABMS Member Boards now issue time-limited certificates of varying lengths, depending on the board. Physicians who were certified before the initiation of these time-limited certificates have been grandfathered and do not have to seek medical board recertification, although many physicians choose to recertify even if they have lifetime certification. This is why you may see subsequent medical board certifications after an initial lifetime certificate. Some boards also offer limited medical board recertification for shorter periods of time to help fulfill physician CME requirements, resulting in overlapping dates. To find out when each board began offering time-limited certifications, please consult Time-Limited Table: General Certificates and Time-Limited Table: Subspecialty Certificates.

http://www.certifacts.org/timelimited.html#1

[Jackie07]

I always read the certificates on the walls while waiting for my doctor in the examine room. It's interesting to see their journey in their professional field. I can always picture in my head what this particular physicain/specialist have gone through. More often than not, I feel more secure being cared for by a doctor who's had lots of experiences. Young doctors, especially young general practitioners, sometimes simply don't have enough experience to decipher all the weired stuff that we are experiencing.
In a big medical facility, physicians have to attend rounds, seminars, and often get updated information from younger doctors they oversee. I know my Sister-in-law does that in updating her knowledge in the nutrition field. She gets many of the 'current updates' from grading her students' assignments and reports.

A 'professional', as I'd learned long time ago, is a person who continues to grow in his/her field by continuing to learn and improve his/her knowlege and skills. When a doctor/health practioner stops learning, he/she can no longer be called a 'professional'. And it doesn't matter what the certificate says...

[Rich66]

When a doctor/health practioner stops learning, he/she can no longer be called a 'professional'.

Agreed..but a certificate is a little easier to read than their mind;) I'm just giving this issue some thought since getting a sense of the case load of the typical clinician. I don't think most patients have even a base awareness of board certification. Some practicing physicians are well established but have cards that say "board eligible". With little else but the gut to go on, seems like any distinguishing criteria like this should be understood by patients.

[juanita]

i always read the stuff on the walls. can find out interesting things sometimes.

[Lani]

NY TImes article today re doctor recertification http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/05/health/AP-US-MED-Retraining-Doctors.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

[Rich66]

Research shows that what doctors think they know does not match what they do, and that performance declines with years in practice, two members of the American Board of Internal Medicine wrote recently in the New England Journal of Medicine (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_england_journal_of_medicine/index.html?inline=nyt-org).

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Older doctors also are feeling the heat. More than a quarter of a million of them were ''grandfathered'' with lifetime certificates, but are being urged to retest voluntarily to show they still know their stuff.
Most don't want to do this."


I'll remember this when renewing my driver's license...

Thanks for the link. (sigh)