The head of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery was all set to adopt ProPublica’s groundbreaking and controversial Surgeon Scorecard as part of the process of re-certifying surgeons. Except that he apparently doesn’t have the power to do so unilaterally.
Investigative journalism organization ProPublica reported that the ABOS Executive Director Dr. Shepard Hurwitz has backtracked from his earlier comments that the board would consider complication rates listed in the Surgical Scorecard when surgeons are up for re-certification.
This week, the board put out a statement saying that Hurwitz “miscommunicated his own personal preliminary willingness” to include Surgical Scorecard data. “Neither the executive director, nor any individual member or officer of the Board of Directors, has the authority to implement any changes without full Credentials Committee and Board of Directors review and approval,” the surgical board said.
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According to ProPublica, Board President Dr. J. Lawrence Marsh, said that the board of directors had not discussed using the Surgeon Scorecard in the certification process prior to an Oct. 13 ProPublica article containing Hurwitz’ comments.
That contradicts what Hurwitz told ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen in several interviews, according to the story.
Photo: Flickr user James Mutter
