Medicare and other third-party payers have clearly discounted the value of continuing medical education in medical care. After years of doctors being taught that such things as a prescription of aspirin after a myocardial infarction or that people of a certain age need vaccinations, they noticed a compliance rate in the failing range (less than 70%). When these third-party payers simply declared that they will reimburse physicians less if these requirements are not met, physician compliance suddenly rose to the outstanding category. It is clear that these same third-party payers are trying to figure out how to enforce similar quality measures for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. While the shape of these requirements is not known, you can bet that the work is progressing.
So, as the ABIM tells physicians, “you got a really nice place on the web here, it would be a shame if somebody messed it up.” We should think about the cost for the American Board of Bada Bing to provide us with “protection.” the rheumatologist
Dr. Cronstein is the Paul R. Esserman Professor of Medicine and director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, New York University School of Medicine in New York.