Whereas: board certification and the corporate product known as “maintenance of certification” (MOC) are arbitrary constructs of private entities that exclude physicians from practice as an advertising and guild-exclusionary mechanisms;
Whereas: such limitations constitute an unlawful restraint of trade, and the implementation by law is an unconstitutional delegation of governmental power to private entities;
Whereas: as many as 25% of all physicians actively practicing in the U.S. are not board certified;
Whereas: the imposition of MOC causes physicians to be pressured into retirement and excluded from providing medical care; and
Whereas: the exclusion of physicians deprives patients of access to physician care, especially in remote or underserved areas, and reduces the quality of available care to that rendered by persons of lesser qualifications,
Be it therefore resolved that AAPS continue support of legislation that protects physicians and their patients from the imposition of board certification, MOC, or other similar requirements as a condition of practicing medicine or receiving payment for services,
be it further resolved that AAPS will continue to propose, review, and critique related model and actual legislative language, and as necessary adopt, at the direction of the AAPS Board of Directors, updated model language as the official AAPS-recommended model legislation, and
be it further resolved, that our AAPS Board consider providing direct financial support, based on available financial resources, to state AAPS chapters that are engaged in meaningful legislative battles to weaken or stop mandatory MOC in their states.
