Re: August 1,1999 International O&P License Requirement Poll
Lance Hoxie
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: August 1,1999 International O&P License Requirement Poll
Creator:
Lance Hoxie
Date:
8/3/1999
Text:
Dear Mr. Boyer:
If your comments are that certification programs (including examinations)
do not guarantee that all who are certified or pass certification exams are
competent, then I agree. There are many examples in all fields of health
care where a person who had every credential possible still was not
competent.
However, I disagree that certification is not a valuable mechanism to
minimize opportunities for the unqualified to lay their hands on a
patient. The fact is that certification (even in the face of licensure) is
a valuable mechanism for the profession to assure that those who would
propose to practice in that field have met certain minimum requirements
(education and training) and have been required to undertake and pass a set
of rigorous exams to test their acumen. While licensure may identify
(for state purposes) those who may practice their science/art,
certification has traditionally been a mechanism to identify those with
special expertise. The fact is that licensure, like certification, does
not guarantee anything. A dermatologist can perform brain surgery in his
garage and licensure makes that perfectly legal! What prevents him from
doing so is not licensure. Rather, it's the organizations that apply
standards and requirements that permit him/her to practice. Certification
criteria, recognized by payors and others, are the delimiters. Also,
patients should not solely rely on licensure. For example, I make certain
that my children are cared for by a licensed physician but I also make
certain he/she is board certified in pediatrics.
With respect to certification examinations, I also agree that people can
engineer their ability to improve chances of passage. It's been my
experience, however, that few have been successful. In addition, with
respect to ABC exams, they require candidates to actually apply their
book knowledge to clinical circumstances involving patients. We have
found that those who fail frequently are those who haven't the requisite
formal education or who are not capable of applying that knowledge to
clinical care of the patient. Still, there are those who are not competent
but who have passed. State licensure, then, becomes important because it
carries the statutory authority to prosecute those incompetents.
I encourage you to carefully examine all licensure programs. I think
you'll find that eventually all of them will mandate the same requirements
espoused by ABC certification. If they don't, then you (as a patient or
significant other of a patient) can rely on ABC certification as a means of
testing the practitioner's qualifications for delivering O&P care.
Sincerely,
Lance O. Hoxie
Executive Director
American Board for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics, Inc.
As it happens, the ABC's eligibility requirements are the toughest in the
field even when compared against licensure programs.
-----Original Message-----
From: George Boyer [SMTP: <Email Address Redacted> ]
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 1999 11:09 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: Re: August 1,1999 International O&P License Requirement Poll
Absolutely, Dan Snelson!! It is the education, the internship, and the
monitoring of the true ability of the person, not the certification
exam, which determines fitness. Anybody can pass an exam with enough
cramming....and this has nothing to do with talented practice of
prosthetics. GeorgeB.
DAN SNELSON wrote:
> Tony,I don't mean to be rude but what is your point? The fact the a
> country has licensing has nothing to do with the education that a
> person with that license has. Some guy in India says he had a class in
> Prosthetics so he is a CPO right? That was an actual question on this
> board. He figured that he had some classes he is therefore CERTIFIED?
> Would you rather have an artifical Limb made by a non government
> licensed Prosthetist form the United States who is Certified by ABC or
> a person that is government certified in Communist China? Dan Snelson,
> CPO, FAAOP
<< File: ATT00010.htm >>
If your comments are that certification programs (including examinations)
do not guarantee that all who are certified or pass certification exams are
competent, then I agree. There are many examples in all fields of health
care where a person who had every credential possible still was not
competent.
However, I disagree that certification is not a valuable mechanism to
minimize opportunities for the unqualified to lay their hands on a
patient. The fact is that certification (even in the face of licensure) is
a valuable mechanism for the profession to assure that those who would
propose to practice in that field have met certain minimum requirements
(education and training) and have been required to undertake and pass a set
of rigorous exams to test their acumen. While licensure may identify
(for state purposes) those who may practice their science/art,
certification has traditionally been a mechanism to identify those with
special expertise. The fact is that licensure, like certification, does
not guarantee anything. A dermatologist can perform brain surgery in his
garage and licensure makes that perfectly legal! What prevents him from
doing so is not licensure. Rather, it's the organizations that apply
standards and requirements that permit him/her to practice. Certification
criteria, recognized by payors and others, are the delimiters. Also,
patients should not solely rely on licensure. For example, I make certain
that my children are cared for by a licensed physician but I also make
certain he/she is board certified in pediatrics.
With respect to certification examinations, I also agree that people can
engineer their ability to improve chances of passage. It's been my
experience, however, that few have been successful. In addition, with
respect to ABC exams, they require candidates to actually apply their
book knowledge to clinical circumstances involving patients. We have
found that those who fail frequently are those who haven't the requisite
formal education or who are not capable of applying that knowledge to
clinical care of the patient. Still, there are those who are not competent
but who have passed. State licensure, then, becomes important because it
carries the statutory authority to prosecute those incompetents.
I encourage you to carefully examine all licensure programs. I think
you'll find that eventually all of them will mandate the same requirements
espoused by ABC certification. If they don't, then you (as a patient or
significant other of a patient) can rely on ABC certification as a means of
testing the practitioner's qualifications for delivering O&P care.
Sincerely,
Lance O. Hoxie
Executive Director
American Board for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics, Inc.
As it happens, the ABC's eligibility requirements are the toughest in the
field even when compared against licensure programs.
-----Original Message-----
From: George Boyer [SMTP: <Email Address Redacted> ]
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 1999 11:09 AM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: Re: August 1,1999 International O&P License Requirement Poll
Absolutely, Dan Snelson!! It is the education, the internship, and the
monitoring of the true ability of the person, not the certification
exam, which determines fitness. Anybody can pass an exam with enough
cramming....and this has nothing to do with talented practice of
prosthetics. GeorgeB.
DAN SNELSON wrote:
> Tony,I don't mean to be rude but what is your point? The fact the a
> country has licensing has nothing to do with the education that a
> person with that license has. Some guy in India says he had a class in
> Prosthetics so he is a CPO right? That was an actual question on this
> board. He figured that he had some classes he is therefore CERTIFIED?
> Would you rather have an artifical Limb made by a non government
> licensed Prosthetist form the United States who is Certified by ABC or
> a person that is government certified in Communist China? Dan Snelson,
> CPO, FAAOP
<< File: ATT00010.htm >>
Citation
Lance Hoxie, “Re: August 1,1999 International O&P License Requirement Poll,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/212407.
