Expand search form

A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943

Texas Action Alert: Opportunity to Protect Board Certification Status

Dear AAPS Members and Friends in Texas:

Thank you to the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS) for raising awareness about an important opportunity to amend the definition of “board certified” used by the Texas Medical Board.

In its current form, the rule in Texas Administrative Code Sec. 164.4 unjustly prohibits most physicians who have achieved board certification status from saying that they are board certified unless they pay periodic fees to the specialty boards and comply with other counterproductive and harmful red tape that detracts from patient care.

NBPAS  writes: “Every physician in Texas must ACT NOW! The public comment period is brief. Comments must be submitted by Monday, June 24, 2024 by 5pm CST.  To make it as easy as possible, please feel free to use the following template for your comments and add any personal comments as you see fit.”  

Please send your comments to: [email protected] and copy NBPAS at [email protected]

Please also share with your fellow Texas physician colleagues. 

For many email apps, CLICKING HERE will open a new message with the template text, subject line, and recipient addresses pre-filled in.

If the above link does not work for you, text you can copy and paste into a new message can be found below.

With appreciation,  ~AAPS


Template Message

To: [email protected]
CC: [email protected]

Subject line: Comments on Proposed Rule Review  (this subject line is required)

To the members of the Texas Medical Board (TMB):

I am writing to request that the TMB immediately revise Rule 164.4 regarding physician board certification advertising rules. The rule  inadvertently bars board certified physicians from advertising their expertise and endangers their ability to practice medicine in the state of Texas.

Rule § 164.4 must be modernized to reflect the evolution of physician board certification and to protect physicians and their patients. I suggest TMB edits Rule 164.4 as follows:

Current language:

(a) A physician is authorized to use the term “board certified” in any advertising for his or her practice only if the specialty board that conferred the certification and the certifying organization is a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), or the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists (BOS), or is the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

… (c) A physician may not authorize the use of or use the term “board certified” if the claimed board certification has expired and has not been renewed at the time the advertising in question was ordered.

Suggested amended language:

(a) A physician is authorized to use the term “board certified” in any advertising for his or her practice only if the physician has achieved an initial board certification by a specialty board that conferred the certification and the certifying organization is a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), or the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists (BOS), or is the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and the physician continues to practice medicine in the same specialty of the initial certification.

To conform to the changes made in (a), subsection (c) should be struck in its entirety to remove certification renewal requirements.

These edits would accomplish all of the TMB’s stated goals including:

Accurately standardizes the definition of “board certified” to reflect the completion of an ACGME-accredited residency program and passage of a rigorous board certification exam.

Identifies physicians with exceptional expertise in a particular area of medicine in which Texas patients may seek care.

Finally, this edit additionally remedies a newer challenge of age discrimination – ABMS/AOA changed their certification programs to require “maintenance of certification” (MOC) but only from physicians certified after 1990, while “grandfathering” the rest (up to 40% of practicing physicians).

Summary: As written, Rule §164.4 inadvertently places a barrier to employment and a disincentive to practice medicine in Texas for many board certified physicians. It is critical that TMB makes these changes which are critical to keeping Texas physicians where we need them – seeing patients in Texas.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

Previous Article

AAPS Calls for Overruling Jacobson v. Massachusetts, upon Which Vaccine Mandates Are Based

Next Article

Economic Health Watch: The Value of the Dollar