Editor’s Note: ACEP President Angela Gardner, M.D., FACEP, released the following statement on Dec. 10, 2009, regarding the ruling by the Texas Medical Board that physicians certified by the American Board of Physician Specialties could advertise themselves as board certified.
Explore This Issue
ACEP News: Vol 29 – No 01 – January 2010ACEP and the entire emergency medical community were surprised to learn that on Oct. 20, the Texas Medical Board ruled that physicians certified by the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) could advertise themselves to the public as board certified. ABPS certifies physicians in 17 specialties. Its emergency medicine board is the Board of Certification in Emergency Medicine (BCEM).
After learning of the ruling, ACEP contacted the Texas Medical Board and, under the Texas Open Records Act, requested copies of all the materials pertaining to this ruling. We are expecting the documents soon, and once they have been reviewed, we will decide on a course of action. We may ask that the medical board hold public hearings, or that this action be overturned.
As outlined in ACEP’s policy statement “ACEP Recognized Certifying Bodies in Emergency Medicine,” ACEP recognizes ABEM and AOBEM as the only certifying bodies for emergency medicine. This has been ACEP’s position for many years, and it has not changed.
In recent years, ACEP and its chapters have actively defended this position in opposing similar ABPS initiatives in other states, including Florida, Kentucky, New York, and North Carolina.
ACEP’s opposition is based on concerns that BCEM allows and encourages new physicians to enter unsupervised practice without residency training in the specialty. ACEP has maintained a consistent position on the critical importance of residency training for physicians entering emergency medicine. The specialty has grown such that residency training is widely available and should be the pathway for new physicians entering the practice of emergency medicine.
In fact, the first sentence in our policy statement “The Role of the Legacy Emergency Physician in the 21st Century” states:
“ACEP believes that physicians who begin the practice of emergency medicine in the 21st century must have completed an accredited emergency medicine residency training program and be eligible for certification by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM).”
Unfortunately, BCEM does not share this commitment to the importance of residency training for new physicians, and as a result, ACEP opposes efforts to allow those physicians to advertise themselves as board certified.
Pages: 1 2 | Single Page
One Response to “ACEP Responds to Texas Ruling on ABPS—Certification Decision Questioned”
July 7, 2018
William T Gatewood DOAs EM becomes more competitive and the amount of EM applicants increase each year there, there is a shortage of options when it comes to additional training. Ideally, an applicant will Match into an EM training program, complete residency and obtain board certification through ABEM/AOBEM
But there are also a significant amount of applicants who do not Match into EM and take positions in other specialties. With each year that passes, the likelihood of securing an EM residency spot diminishes significantly. The main driver being “Above the Cap GME Funding” for residents with prior training.
There are few other options available to these residents, who have not given up on their goals to work as EM physician. A majority of rural EDs are staffed by non-ABEM BC physicians. Is this ideal? I don’t believe so.
The American Board of Physician Specialists offer this niche of residents to seek additional EM training and if eligible, sit for both oral and written examinations to become Board Certifed Emergency Medicine (BCEM). I understand and respect the ABEMs position whether this alternative “Board Certification” meets the same muster and continuing accreditation the ABEM works for. ABEM/AOBEM Board Certification = Gold Standard
But for those EM applicants who didn’t match and the truly dedicated residents who would gladly complete an additional residency in EM if given the chance, what other options do they have? There is no easy answer.
With the addition of each new medical school and future ACGME single-accreditation for graduate medical education, there will only be more graduating residents applying for a limited number of EM positions. And thus my plight.
With all due respect, the physicians who seek additional training, such as an ABPS EM Fellowship are truly dedicated to the advancement of their knowledge and commitment to patient care. At the end of the day, we get out of our training what we put into our training.
Until there is another option for continued training in EM, options like BCEM at least provide some contingency to those residents who have gotten “too old” in PGY years to realistically transfer or even Re-Match into EM.
I am one of those residents and unless I Re-Match into EM this season (having completed an ACGME Family Medicine residency by July 1st, 2019), this pathway at least gets me a little bit closer to my goal of working in academic EM and residency training.
Thank you for the opportunity to engage in this conversation. If anything, I wish others to learn from my experience and be successful…the first time, matching into the specialty we hold such high in respect.
Respectfully,
William Gatewood DO