Episode 126: How the Medical Boards are Fleecing America's Doctors with Chuck Kroll
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
Release Date: 05/01/2021
Episode 154: Rethinking Vaccine Mandates and the Omicron Variant with Dr. Monica Gandhi
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
Vaccine mandates, mask mandates, boosters, and variants have been a constant source of debate and controversy with the pandemic. My guest today is Dr. Monica Gandhi, an expert in immunology and infectious disease who runs the HIV clinic at UCSF. She has been a fairly prominent voice in support of the mask and vaccine mandates in her home state of California and city of San Francisco. She returns from her visit in June for SARS-CoV-2 in which she guessed that it wouldn't evade the vaccine or prior infection (spoiler alert: she was right). Do Vaccine Mandates Make Sense? Dr. Gandhi is...
info_outline
Episode 153: Crowd Health is Go Fund Me for Health Care on Nitro with CEO Andy Schoonover
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
What happens when you take Go Fund Me and put it into an ecosystem of likeminded folks who want to build a community to care for each other's health care expenses? You get which draws upon some of the concepts of crowd funding for one time health care expenses within its community. By taking people from all over the country and putting them into a community where there are expectations of caring for others, Crowd Health offers a solution to paying for health care expenses without breaking the bank. Is Crowd Health Insurance? If you've been paying attention to the US health care...
info_outline
Episode 152: The COVID Drawdown
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
Today we are going to discuss the COVID drawdown. Essentially, this is what must inevitably happen for us to return to lives of normalcy where we have typical interactions with others at family gatherings, sporting events, concerts, and business meetings. Unless we are prepared to radically change the way we live our lives and choose isolation (which probably has far greater physical and mental health detriments) then we have to consider how the drawdown occurs and what conditions ned to be present for it to happen. What HaS TO HAPPEN FOR THE DRAWDOWN TO OCCUR? We've talked to...
info_outline
Episode 151: Health Care for Those Who Don't Earn High Wages with Dr. David Berg
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
One of the scariest times for many workers is being presented with a bill for medical services. Even if they have insurance "coverage", the deductible or co-pay might be more than they can afford. For hourly workers in entry level jobs or low skilled positions, medical bankruptcy is a real fear. While barely making ends meet an additional bill for an ER visit or doctor's office stop can send you to collections and destroy your credit. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in this exact spot as they earn a living working these low paying jobs but have little medical security even if...
info_outline
Episode 150: Make Sure Your Health Insurance Broker is Working for You and not the Insurance Company with David Contorno.
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
When you run a business, one person you usually meet and hire is a health insurance broker. In theory, these brokers work with the employers to secure the best deals for health insurance to meet the company's health care objectives. However, in practice, the brokers serve as a sales force for the insurance companies who lavish them with bonuses, trips, and gifts. The seedy underbelly of the health insurance broker industry is that they are really not working to save money or get deals for their clients - the checks are written by the insurance carriers and that's who they answer to. Who do...
info_outline
Episode 149: Is Asymptomatic Spread of SARS-CoV-2 a Thing? with Daniel Halperin, PhD
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
Not only has the COVID pandemic politicized our country - it has led to a lot of misinformation and a shutdown of communication. For instance, is there really asymptomatic spread of COVID? Or just pre-symptomatic and symptomatic spread? That might seem like splitting hairs but it can have a profound effect on policy for quarantining and testing. We've talked about this before on the show as well as general discussions on COVID policy which can be found , , and . 12 Myths and 12 Facts About COVID-19 If there is one certainty during this confusing pandemic it is that there are plenty of...
info_outline
Episode 148: Urgent Care as Primary Care with Dr. Juliet Breeze of Next Level Medical
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
There are a lot of urgent care clinics all over the country. But few of them, to my knowledge, also operate as regular primary care clinics. But that is exactly what is happening today in the Houston, Texas area with the emergence of Next Level Medical. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense to leverage all the facilities needed for a primary care clinic - exam rooms, physicians, etc. and use it to deliver regular and sometimes non-urgent care. We've discussed before that lower the cost of care with transparency so this seems like the next logical step with urgent care. We...
info_outline
Episode 147: Has the Pandemic Led to Infants Losing IQ? - with Sean Deoni, PhD
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
The COVID pandemic has brought on all sorts of changes to the way we live our lives. From wearing masks, working from home, stay at home orders, and restrictions on social interactions, the virus has caused untold disruption to the way our society functions. Although the changes COVID has brought to our schools and the lives of our school age children, it is perhaps less appreciated what changes have occurred for our infants. It is a well known fact that our environment and meaningful stimulation is necessary for normal intelligence and brain development. Infants are completely...
info_outline
Episode 146: Explaining COVID in 11 Minutes with Dr. Eric Larson
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
Imagine yourself in California at a clearing in a large forest. And it’s on fire. There are three groups of people standing before you. A large group is screaming and running around pointing at the fire. They’re yelling that we need to do something, anything we can to stop the fire. Meanwhile, there is another group (not as large) with their backs to the fire. They are mocking and ridiculing the group running around panicking. They tell them to calm down and to stop ordering people around. They insist there isn’t anything wrong at all. Of course, the largest group of people are...
info_outline
Episode 145: Surgery without Insurance with Dr. Keith Smith
The Paradocs Podcast with Eric Larson
A lot has happened since we last met with Dr. Keith Smith from the back in 2018. . We also spoke about how the system was rigged to enrich the hospital systems, insurance carriers, and PBMs (what's new right?). So what's happened since then and how has the center done with the pandemic? Is the Surgery Center of Oklahoma Thriving or Just Surviving? Not surprisingly, Dr. Smith says that the center is doing just fine and has increased its market share from other states. Additionally, the international community from Canada is now being allowed to come back into the US for their...
info_outlineToday's episode strikes right to the heart of the reason I started this podcast - the injustice of maintenance of certification. We've talked about the corruption of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the shakedown by the neurology and psychiatry board, and general state of MOC in America. If you're a doctor, you know all about the unfairness of this system which requires more money, paperwork, money, testing, money, time away from patients and families, and money. It contributes to physician burnout and stress as it is an unwavering pest over our shoulders every day we practice. For patients, it is why your doctor might retire early, look stressed out, or be unavailable when you need him or her most. In this episode, we delve into the details about why the medical boards which oversee maintenance of certification are borderline corrupt.
What is Maintenance of Certification?
Briefly, every physician today goes through residency specialty training. That training is standardized within each specialty by a board (eg, American Board of Pediatrics, American Board of Internal Medicine, etc.). If you pass their requirements for completing a residency and testing you are board certified. Prior to the 1990s, this certification was a lifetime certificate. But beginning in the 90s, the boards began requiring testing in cycles and the certifications were awarded in a time limited fashion (usually 10 years). Over the years, the boards have required more and more components to fulfill your maintenance of certification including increased fees, courses, CMEs, in person sessions, research projects, quality improvement projects, and increased testing.
How are the Specialty Medical Boards Ripping Off Doctors?
Most insurance providers and/or hospitals require physicians to be board certified or be in good standing with their maintenance of certification. This means that the doctors are beholden to the rules, requirements, and fees of their medical boards. There are no recognized alternative boards (the NBPAS is not recognized by most insurers or hospitals) which means it is a monopoly system where doctors have no choice but to comply. Initially, the boards had a fairly loose recertification process just demanding a few thousand dollars every 10 years and simple test to stay certified.
But in mid-2010s many of the specialty boards were becoming financially unviable and were in financial 'death spirals', as my guest today explains. The maintenance of certification fee schedule brought in an infusion of needed cash. So much so that the boards don't appear that they knew what to do with it. They began spending it on real estate, massive compensation for executives, and setting up fully funded retirement accounts and pensions for their employees. They are now so awash in cash that they really don't need any revenue for a few years and could significantly cut fees or suspend fees if they wanted.
Who is Watching the Boards?
My guests today, Charles Kroll and Elizabeth Tremblay, are following the money for these boards. They are investigating all of the corrupt transactions, off shore accounts, and exorbitant executive fees. Their research is helping other physicians challenge the legitimacy of the boards and their financial grip on doctors and their ability to practice medicine.
Charles P. Kroll, CPA is a forensic accountant who has been chasing the money and uncovering corruption at the various medical specialty boards.
show notes
Episode 126: Today's show
WikiMOC: This is the site where you can find all of the financial information about the various specialty medical boards, their assets, and their compensation.
GoFundMe: This is the link to help financially support the efforts of Charles and Elizabeth in exposing the finances of the boards.
Twitter Feed for Kroll: To follow the MOC finances in real time be sure to follow Charles here.
Episode 001: What is MOC and why should you care?
Episode 009: Dr. Wes Fisher and the corruption at the ABIM.
Episode 020: Dr. Meg Edison explains the state of MOC reform across the country.
Episode 092: Dr. Sepah describes the problems at the Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
doctorpodcastnetwork.com/larrykeller: Today's sponsor for the show
Doctor Podcast Network: The home for the Paradocs and a number of other physician based podcasts.
Made Simply Web Site Creations: This is the great, affordable website service that built my wife's podcast site. I cannot recommend this company more to someone looking for creating a website.
Always Andy's Mom: Home of my wife, Marcy's, podcast for parents grieving or those looking to help them.
YouTube for Paradocs: Here you can watch the video of my late son singing his solo on the Paradocs YouTube page.
Patreon - Become a show supporter today and visit my Patreon page for extra bonus material. Every dollar raised goes towards the production and promotion of the show.
