Hey everyone,
I am strongly considering a fellowship with a non-ACGME accredited program that is taught by a senior ISIS instructor. I am confident that my education will be sound and I will leave the fellowship highly trained in spinal interventions. As an Osteopathic physiatrist, my goal is to incorporate interventional techniques into a continuum of rounded practice directed at treating patients with back, neck, and general musculoskeletal dysfunction.
As many of you know, there are only a handful of ACGME accredited PM&R programs in pain management and I am confident many of them will not even be able to offer the training I am seeking; particularly at the level of the fellowship I have already been offered. However, extraneous, nagging ...but important factors exist which irk me and place a seed of doubt into my decision to do a non-ACGME accredited fellowship, which now would prevent my participation in the pain boards.
There is a difference in training between a pain fellowship and a spine fellowship. I believe that residency trained, board certified PM&R physicians, who spend an additional year of quality fellowship to become proficient at performing interventional spine procedures, along with attaining the necessary knowledge to use them appropriately....should be alright to attain privileges, coverage, and get paid by insurance companies, etc. I want to primarily be an interventional spine and musculoskeletal doc, not a chronic pain doc.
I have heard accounts of some spine physicians having difficulty justifying themselves and their practice adequately to the satisfaction of some insurance payers, because they may not be board certified in pain management. I have heard of some difficulties gaining hospital privileges to perform procedures due to worries of increased liability coverage for non-pain board certified physicians wanting to treat the spine with spinal interventions.
Have you heard about such concerns? How do all those fellows taught by leading educators such as RIC, Wash U., Florida Spine, Spliman and others, many of whom are ISIS instructors, justify themselves to such challenges? Doctor did you say your not board certified in pain medicine and you are treating this patients chronic back pain with interventioanl spine procedures? said the lawyer.
Would you still consider a non-ACGME accredited fellowship with a wonderful teacher knowing you won't be able to sit for THE pain boards? Currently there are no Interventional Spine or musculoskeletal boards, so do all the others in my shoes share these concerns? Or are the instances above scattered and far between? What is the trend? Should there be concern about future difficulties finding desired employment? or other unforeseen difficulties?
I've done a good amount of research to date and I know there was a lot of discussion a while back on this subject in this forum, but I'd like to hear about the latest facts and experiences regarding these issues. Is being board certified in pain necessary for those physicians who want to do spinal interventions in their musculoskeletal practice?
What do you know about this?
Thanks for sharing.
I am strongly considering a fellowship with a non-ACGME accredited program that is taught by a senior ISIS instructor. I am confident that my education will be sound and I will leave the fellowship highly trained in spinal interventions. As an Osteopathic physiatrist, my goal is to incorporate interventional techniques into a continuum of rounded practice directed at treating patients with back, neck, and general musculoskeletal dysfunction.
As many of you know, there are only a handful of ACGME accredited PM&R programs in pain management and I am confident many of them will not even be able to offer the training I am seeking; particularly at the level of the fellowship I have already been offered. However, extraneous, nagging ...but important factors exist which irk me and place a seed of doubt into my decision to do a non-ACGME accredited fellowship, which now would prevent my participation in the pain boards.
There is a difference in training between a pain fellowship and a spine fellowship. I believe that residency trained, board certified PM&R physicians, who spend an additional year of quality fellowship to become proficient at performing interventional spine procedures, along with attaining the necessary knowledge to use them appropriately....should be alright to attain privileges, coverage, and get paid by insurance companies, etc. I want to primarily be an interventional spine and musculoskeletal doc, not a chronic pain doc.
I have heard accounts of some spine physicians having difficulty justifying themselves and their practice adequately to the satisfaction of some insurance payers, because they may not be board certified in pain management. I have heard of some difficulties gaining hospital privileges to perform procedures due to worries of increased liability coverage for non-pain board certified physicians wanting to treat the spine with spinal interventions.
Have you heard about such concerns? How do all those fellows taught by leading educators such as RIC, Wash U., Florida Spine, Spliman and others, many of whom are ISIS instructors, justify themselves to such challenges? Doctor did you say your not board certified in pain medicine and you are treating this patients chronic back pain with interventioanl spine procedures? said the lawyer.
Would you still consider a non-ACGME accredited fellowship with a wonderful teacher knowing you won't be able to sit for THE pain boards? Currently there are no Interventional Spine or musculoskeletal boards, so do all the others in my shoes share these concerns? Or are the instances above scattered and far between? What is the trend? Should there be concern about future difficulties finding desired employment? or other unforeseen difficulties?
I've done a good amount of research to date and I know there was a lot of discussion a while back on this subject in this forum, but I'd like to hear about the latest facts and experiences regarding these issues. Is being board certified in pain necessary for those physicians who want to do spinal interventions in their musculoskeletal practice?
What do you know about this?
Thanks for sharing.
