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A Central Role for Board Certification

Christine K. Cassel, MD; Eric S. Holmboe, MD

JAMA. 2006;295:939-940.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

As the health care world looks more closely at ways to measure and improve quality of care, the role of board certification has been emerging as one important method to ensure physician-level competence and accountability. The practices and standards used in identifying physicians for health plan panels and for hospital privileges have been less visible but currently are the only easily available and widely trusted initial screens of physicians that are available to patients. As public interest in physician competence increases, it is important to examine these basic standards for specialists.

The health plan credentialing and hospital privileging processes are a major way that the health care system can assist consumers in identifying physicians who are up-to-date and competent and who maintain certain standards of professionalism. A major issue is whether the current techniques that health plans and hospitals use in profiling . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: American Board of Internal Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.

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Credentialing, Recertification, and Public Accountability
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