Association of Participation in the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Maintenance of Certification Program and Physician Disciplinary Actions

Objective The study analyzed the relationship between participation in the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation maintenance of certification program and the incidence of disciplinary actions by state medical boards over a physician's career. The hypothesis is that physicians who do not maintain their board certification have a higher likelihood of state medical board disciplinary actions. Design This retrospective cohort study analyzed American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation maintenance of certification data from all board-certified physiatrists who were enrolled in the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation maintenance of certification program from 1993 to 2007. Results Matching examination and license data were available for 4794 physicians, who received a total of 212 disciplinary action reports through the Federation of State Medical Boards. The results showed that physicians who have a lapse in completing the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation maintenance of certification program have a 2.5-fold higher incidence of receiving a disciplinary action report through the Federation of State Medical Boards (95% confidence interval = 1.76-3.63) and had higher severity violations (chi(2) = 7.14, P < 0.05) than physicians whose certificate never lapsed. Conclusions For physicians in physical medicine and rehabilitation, loss of board certification through failure to fulfill the maintenance of certification program requirements is associated with an increased risk of disciplinary action from a state medical licensing board.