Judge Orders California Medical Board to Grant
Equivalency to American Board of Cosmetic Surgery
[Posted 10/05/06]

A California Superior Court judge recently ordered the Medical Board of California to grant specialty board equivalency status to the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery (ABCS). The court determined that ABCS’s requirements for board certification meet or exceed the training requirements of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).

State law allows physicians to advertise board certification only if the certifying board or association is recognized by ABMS or deemed equivalent by the medical board. This decision will allow California physicians who are ABCS certified to advertise that they are board certified in cosmetic surgery. The medical board, which had previously denied ABCS’s petition for equivalency, has not yet decided whether it will appeal the ruling.

The only other boards currently deemed equivalent by the medical board are the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the American Board of Pain Medicine, the American Board of Sleep Medicine, and the American Board of Spine Surgery. The only other board that applied for and was denied approval by the medical board is the American Academy of Pain Management. The academy unsuccessfully sued the medical board a number of times in the late 1990s, challenging the CMA-sponsored law passed in 1990 that authorized the Medical Board of California to regulate physicians’ use of the term “board certified” for advertising purposes.

The 1990 law was passed in response to complaints that physicians were advertising themselves as “board certified” when they had only attended very brief courses offered by non-ABMS boards. Even though American Academy of Pain Management failed to meet the medical board’s equivalency standards, the academy argued that the law violates the First Amendment right to free speech. In 2004, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the statute.

Click here here to download the court's ruling.

Contact: Sandra Bressler, 415/882-5171 or sbressler@cmanet.org.