TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In an open letter to U.S. Senators, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) notes that the proposed Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, now being introduced in at least 11 state legislatures, "is little more than a pretext for transferring state sovereignty to out-of-state private, wealthy organizations that are neither transparent nor accountable to the voters."
For purposes of participating in the "expedited" multi-state licensure, the Compact defines "physician" to mean someone who "holds specialty certification or a time-unlimited specialty certificate recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) or the American Osteopathic Association's Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists"—and who pays dues to the AOA (if an osteopathic physician) and fees to various other designated entities. No state currently defines a physician in this manner, notes AAPS.
This excludes a large percentage of American physicians, AAPS points out. "It would force all physicians licensed under the Compact to engage in costly, time-devouring proprietary programs with no proven benefit to patient care throughout their career. Requiring such programs, some with examinations designed to fail up to a fourth of all examinees, could suddenly terminate the careers of many highly capable physicians."
"The Compact is a back-door way of sneaking in mandatory, proprietary Maintenance of Certification/Maintenance of Licensure (MOC®/MOL) programs that most physicians find to be of minimal or no value," states AAPS executive director Jane M. Orient, M.D.
"This would worsen the looming physician shortage. More patients would have access only to practitioners with far less training than physicians have," she states.
The FSMB and the specialty boards are private entities, AAPS notes. They certify themselves and are subject to no governmental oversight of the standards they impose, the fees they extract, or the processes they use for certifying or decertifying physicians.
The letter urges Congress "to oppose the Compact and investigate the financial relationships of FSMB, including its incestuous relationship with the self-credentialed 'patient safety' or 'medical quality' industry, such as the CMS-funded National Quality Forum (NQF)."
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943 to preserve private medicine and the patient-physician relationship.