We had a neighborhood girl inform us once that she was now a “certified babysitter.” I didn’t even know that we had or needed such a thing. I thought that people had been babysitting for centuries without a need for certification.   

I have a beautiful home here in the Yakima area. It is structurally, by far, the nicest house on the block. In fact, it is built so well that two of my medical partners had the same carpenter build their homes after they saw mine. That’s called a reputation. It was built by someone who knows how to build houses.

And it was built at a far lower cost per foot than any other house around. Why? Because he is not (certified) a member of the local carpenter’s union. Can you believe it? How in the hell can someone learn to build a nice home without being certified by some governing board?

Now let’s apply this principle to medicine. Is your physician board certified? Most likely he or she is. Why? Because they are being forced to be members of the American medical boards “physician unions” (as I like to refer to it) by third party insurance companies, medical malpractice insurance carriers, and uninformed patients. 

 Physicians are required to obtain continuing medical education to retain our license to practice medicine. Fifty hours per year are required for me. This is to help make sure that I am keeping abreast of the newest medical findings.

I don’t know exactly how that decision was made but it is law so I complete it -every year. It costs money to do that. And it costs you money, by the way. My company must pass my cost of getting that continuing education on to you through higher office prices. Welcome to the hidden world of regulatory medicine. 

Now enter the world of board certification. The American Board of Family Medicine has added their own requirements for “physician certification.”  They are onerous and expensive.  And who pays for those requirements? You do at the physician office visit.  

Can people baby sit without being certified by the state? Can people properly care for the elderly without being certified by the state? Can your physician practice caring medicine without being certified by the board of medicine? Of course they can. Certification agencies are burdensome and expensive and do little to assure quality care.