Pain group not eligible to certify members

The organization's standards fell short of what California requires for physicians to use "board certified" in their advertising.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Jan. 26, 2004.

A federal appeals court has upheld a state law that prohibits physicians from advertising they are board certified in a medical specialty unless the certifying board or association meets state regulations.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the American Academy of Pain Management's argument that the rule violated free speech, ending the academy's eight-year battle with the Medical Board of California, which oversees the ad regulations.

"Obviously we are pleased with this decision -- the fourth legal challenge in which we have prevailed. California has a law that is constitutional, one which other states could use as a model," said medical board spokeswoman Candis Cohen. "If I were authoring legislation at this time, I'd look to the decision for guidance."

The 6,000-member academy, which credentials multispecialty pain practitioners and develops standards, said it would drop the issue.

"We prefer not to divide our attention at this point. Our mission is to up the standards in pain management," said Kathryn Padgett, PhD, director of the Sonora, Calif.-based academy.

The California regulation, enacted in 1994, allows physicians to use board certified in advertisements if the certifying organization is a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, has equivalent requirements accepted by the state medical board or has a postgraduate training program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

In April 1996, the pain academy asked the California medical board if its members could use "board certified." But the board said no. It said the academy's standards for certification were not equivalent to the ABMS standards. It also said the academy did not require members to have formal postgraduate training and the academy's two-hour exam fell short of the board's required 16-hour exam.