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Douglas Free, Nationwide Protection Against Misleading Physician Advertising: The California Model, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Volume 18, Issue 1, January 1998, Pages 61–62, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-820X(98)80032-0
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When the average consumer sees the term “board-certified” in connection with the credentials of a physician, he or she is likely to equate that term with the highest level of competence and training. What most people do not know, however, is that in many states, physicians are free to represent themselves as “board-certified” in a given field of medicine even though the organization that conferred that status on them did not impose standards that perhaps even came close to matching the requirements of this country's nationally recognized credentialing body, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
This situation presents a clear danger that persons faced with choosing a doctor will be misled by deceptive advertising. At the same time, physicians who have met the significant standards required by the ABMS are not given the marketplace recognition they deserve within their respective specialties.
Legislation enacted in California at the beginning of this decade has provided the Medical Board of California with ammunition to combat this serious problem. Specifically, the passage in 1990 of Senate Bill 2036 led to an amendment to the California Business & Professions Code under which physicians and surgeons are prohibited from including the words “board-certified “ in advertisements, unless the certifying board is recognized and approved by the California Medical Board. As set forth in California Business & Professions Code §651(h)(5), “…the statement of a practitioner…who limits his or her practice to a specific field or fields, shall only include a statement that he or she is certified or is eligible for certification by a private or public board or parent association recognized by that practitioner's licensing board.”
