Specialty Board Certification Error Causes Headaches for Doctors

MedPage Today story.

Some doctors had a sleepless night when the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology's (ABPN) online certification program locked them out earlier than the expected deadline -- leading some to believe they would lose their board certification.

Physicians were working on their quizzes to maintain board certification late on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 14, when the online tool shut down -- ahead of the expected deadline of 11:59 p.m. Central Time on Sunday, Dec. 15.

"I almost had a heart attack thinking that I would no longer be board certified," one physician told MedPage Today. "I was laying in bed at 4 a.m. with chest pain. I thought I was either going to have a heart attack or a panic attack."

By the morning of Dec. 15, some physicians had taken to social media channels, posting that they had been locked out of the test early, according to messages shared with MedPage Today.

ABPN posted a message on its website on Sunday noting that there was "an issue with our article exam software platform that prevented access to the exam overnight Saturday through the early morning of Sunday, December 15th. Access was restored at 9:30 am CT on December 15th."

"Due to the unforeseen and unexpected downtime, we will extend the article exam testing deadline by one full day," said the posted statement, a screenshot of which was shared with MedPage Today. "Article exams may be accessed now through the end of the day (11:59 pm) on Monday, December 16th. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

Jeffrey Lyness, MD, president and CEO of ABPN, told MedPage Today in an email that the organization has "nothing to add to what we have communicated more directly with our diplomates."

Like other medical specialty boards, ABPN gives physicians a route to certification other than a single big exam every 10 years. The alternate certification option includes reading a series of journal articles and completing a five-question quiz on each every 3 years.

Physicians must pass 30 quizzes once every 3 years; they are allowed to take a total of 40 quizzes.

Once physicians began talking with each other about the error on Sunday morning, it brought some relief, one told MedPage Today. Certification is required by many insurance companies; without certification, doctors could be kicked out of insurer networks -- which could potentially put their practice on the line.

"ABPN eventually opened it back up on Sunday saying it was an error," one doctor told MedPage Today. "But it wasn't clear initially, and it led to a lot of heartache in the middle of the night for a lot of people."