Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians (MC-FP)

The Board's executive director finally responded and gave permission to post his e-mail here. Others may find this helpful as I did.

Dear Dr. Mack,

Thank you very much for your recent email, dated November 17, 2003, regarding the cost of recertification. It has been forwarded from our help desk to me for a response. We are acutely aware of the many issues confronting family physicians at the present time (e.g., declining reimbursement, rising malpractice costs), and we have attempted to be sensitive to these concerns when establishing the cost for recertification.

With respect to this issue, let me make several important points. The fee paid by Diplomates at the time that they take the examination pays for all aspects of recertification, not just the examination. So, it pays for the staff that process your application, verify the status of your license, verify your CME, review your computerized office record review, keep the reference guides up to date, create, review and validate the examination questions, make your test center assignments, answer questions over the phone and internet about the process, proctor the examination, score it, validate the results, and send those back to you. It also pays for the cost of using the test centers (both computer and paper and pencil sites), as well as shipping of the test materials in a secure fashion to the centers and back to us after completion of the examination. The better part of 95% of the fee that you pay directly offsets these costs. The remaining five percent offsets the costs for the JABFP, The Pisacano Leadership Foundation, our contributions to the Future of Family Medicine initiative and the Annals of Family Medicine, as well as other miscellaneous overhead costs. The American Board of Family Practice is a not for profit organization.

This year the fee is $950, which is less than what any other specialty board charges their Diplomates for recertification; it is almost half of the average charged by all other boards for recertification. That works out to about $136 per year over the seven year recertification cycle, or about 37 cents per day. When viewed in this manner, I hope that you would agree that we have been not only cognizant of the issue of cost, but also responsible in providing a certificate which provides significant added value at reasonable cost to you. In an effort to underscore the fact that the fee covers the entire recertification process, when we begin MC-FP in January, we will offer the opportunity to "pay as you go" as Diplomates participate in the various aspects of this program.

I hope that I have adequately addressed your concerns. Thank you very much for taking the time to share them with me.

Sincerely,

James C. Puffer, M.D. Executive Director American Board of Family Practice

Competing interests:   None declared