How Maintenance of Certification Impacts Patients

In health care, practice does not necessarily make perfect. Although it makes sense that doctors with more experience would have accumulated more knowledge and skill, research findings suggest that physician performance declines over time. This could mean that experience in medicine may make doctors expert at old ways of doing things – and lead to lower, not higher, quality care.

Medicine changes rapidly, and it has become essential for doctors to stay current in the diagnosis and treatment of patients in order to provide high quality care. By participating in ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program, doctors can demonstrate their commitment to ongoing learning and can effectively apply their enhanced knowledge and skills in their practice.

Most internists voluntarily seek board certification, which in the past was good for a lifetime. Doctors certified after 1990 must recertify – every ten years – but those certified before that date are not required to do so. Those who do not recertify may have standards of practice that do not reflect current recommendations.

More and more internists with lifetime certificates voluntarily recertify, recognizing the importance and value of ongoing learning. But many still do not. Ask if your internist has enrolled in Maintenance of Certification – and if the answer is no, you may want to encourage them to do so.