Re-certification improves doctors' performance

This week Reuters reported on a study showing that the time elapsed since a primary care doctor's last board certification coorelated with a decline in the quality of care he provides. The study examined the electronic records of patients being treated for hypertension, an important factor in the quality of care.

The expected action by a doctor would be to step up treatment if a patient's blood pressure was high. The expected treatment was highest among internists who and passed their boards the year prior (27 percent). For every decade past doctors' certification dates, the researcher found a 21 percent drop in the possiblity that the doctors would take the expected action.