Recertification Scores Correlate with Quality of Care

Some physicians question the need for recertification, citing a lack of evidence that maintenance of certification provides meaningful information about physician performance. In validated measures of quality of care in internal medicine, criteria include performance of screening mammography; use of lipid panels in patients with cardiovascular disease; and use of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) measures, lipid measures, and retinal screening in patients with diabetes mellitus. Investigators evaluated whether scores on recertification exams correlated with performance of quality-of-care practices.

The researchers found that physicians who scored in the top quartile in recertification exams were significantly more likely than those in the lowe…