from EM News, March 2007 issue:
AAPS SUES NY-DOH OVER BOARD CERTIFICATION ISSUE
article by Anne Scheck
A lawsuit filed against the New York Department of Health by the American Association of Physician Specialists (AAPS) alleges that the state is illegally prohibiting physicians certified by its companion board from listing themselves as board certified on the Internet.
Though no one involved would say whether this is the first legal battle over the legitimacy of Internet postings on physicans- representatives of the accused public agency said they can not comment- the AAPS attorney who filed the case said it represents an important attempt to guarantee the right to display credentials in a public way.
Before filing the suit, AAPS’s certification board, the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) asked the New York Department of Health (DOH) to acknowledge ABPS certification so its physicians can promote themselves as board certified specialists on the DOH’s widely used web site, said Michael Sussman, the attorney representing the AAPS. The complaint is an attempt by AAPS to “level the playing field”, he said, and it singles out emergency medicine in particular.
More than 100 physicians across the state have ABPS-approved specialty titles that they should be able to list on the web site, “yet they are prohibited from doing so,” he said. The reasons were “explicitly’ based more on the subjective view of the AAPS and the ABPS by existing traditional medical organizations rather than on an objective evaluation of the facts pertaining to the ABPS certification process, according to Mr. Sussman.
For full article, click on:
EM News March 2007
