Docs practicing outside specialties stir controversy

With insurance reimbursements flagging, a growing number of physicians are looking to create new revenue streams by offering patient-paid cosmetic procedures. The criticism: Many of the physicians newly offering face-lifts and breast augmentations are board certified in specialties other than plastic surgery.

"The public needs to be protected from doctors who are not upfront about what board certifications they have," Malcolm Z. Roth, chief of plastic surgery at the Albany Medical Center in Albany and president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, told The New York Times.

In turn, the society's rival, the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (AACS), composed primarily of doctors who are not board-certified plastic surgeons, says traditional plastic surgeons simply don't like having competition. "For a certain group to wage a turf battle and say for financial reasons that they are the only ones who can safely perform cosmetic procedures is hypocritical and grossly untrue," AACS President Angelo Cuzalina told the newspaper.

While certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, one of 24 boards endorsed by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), requires a minimum three-year residency in the chosen area of concentration, plus extensive oral and written exams, physicians receiving training from many sound-alike boards not recognized by the ABMS may take a mere weekend course aboard a cruise ship before giving Botox injections or performing liposuction on patients.

There are no laws in the United States that require doctors to practice only within the specialty fields in which they were trained, noted NYT. Only Texas, California, Louisiana and Florida mandate that doctors specify in their advertising which specialty board certifications they have; elsewhere, they may say only that they are "board-certified."

To learn more:
- read the article in The New York Times

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