Lobbying your medical staff to accept alternatives to traditional board certification

The National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS) developed a grassroots initiative to encourage hospitals and payers to accept NBPAS certification as equal to ABMS member-board certification.  It is an alternative to other national specialty boards that have not responded to physician demands to modify the MOC process.  While obtaining certification through NBPAS is simple, many hospitals and payers do not recognize it as meeting credentialing criteria.  Because of education and pressure from local physicians, many hospitals around the country have begun accepting NBPAS certification as equivalent to other national boards.  You can visit the NBPAS website here to learn more about this effort and determine if you’d like to petition your medical staff to accept NBPAS certification.

Change begins with education.  This sample letter to your hospital administrators or this letter to your colleagues can be used to educate them on what NBPAS certification is and why it is important to you.

Making change in your Hospital

A Word from NBPAS:

“The bylaws of many hospitals require “board certification” for hospital privileges and may not expressly allow alternatives to ABMS member boards. Given the clear need to have alternatives to ABMS, many hospitals will require altering the hospital bylaws and you can be an integral part of this change. Each month we receive many confirmations of new hospital systems that have already made this change so we want to show you how they have made this change and what you can do to help.” -NBPAS

Most hospital bylaws changes are first reviewed and voted on by the medical executive and credentials committees and sometimes the hospital’s Board of Trustees.  You could take a proposed bylaws change directly to these bodies, or you could garner initial support from your colleagues by circulating a petition to support your position.  NBPAS created an information page on petitioning your hospital medical staff to amend their bylaws to accept alternatives to ABMS member board certification.  This link also includes tips on creating an email petition for other medical staff members.