Fake eye doctor huh? Just like all of the liberal shit-talkers you only give part of the story... you try to slash and burn... very destructive.... downright prejudice.

He's passed it many times before, so quit trying to just put people down to try to get ahead in the political game.
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Rand Paul has released a statement, explaining that he avoided getting certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology due to a principled stance against some of their practices:

I took the American Board of Ophthalmology (the largest governing body in ophthalmology) boards in 1995, passed them on my first attempt (as well as three times during residency), and was therefore board-certified under this organization for a decade.

In 1997, I, along with 200 other young ophthalmologists formed the National Board of Ophthalmology to protest the American Board of Ophthalmology’s decision to grandfather in the older ophthalmologists and not require them to recertify.

I thought this was hypocritical and unjust for the older ophthalmologists to exempt themselves from the recertification exam.

In forming NBO, the younger ophthalmologists agreed to require recertification for all ophthalmologists.

In my protest to the American Board, I asked, “If the ABO thinks that qualify of care would be improved by board testing every decade, shouldn’t this apply to all doctors, not just those of a certain age? In fact, many of us argue that the older ophthalmologists need recertification even more since they are more distant from their training. CONT.

[voices.washingtonpost.com]


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He can claim he is "board certified" since all board certification is a private matter. His is the NBO which he happens to own, but if he had a certificate from a cereal box that proclaimed "board certification" that would be true too.

Parenthetically, there are physicians who complain that the ten year rule of the ABMS is simply a money making scheme. There is some validity to that argument since 90% of those recertifying pass the boards again. It costs around $2K-$3K to recertify which is usually a written or computer generated test.

Board Certification started out as a way of determining who the "elite" physicians were by way of testing. Each specialty has its own board and over the years the certification has gone from "elite" to mandatory if you want to practice in most hospitals. Certification boards are all private corporations, not state entities.

As a result of this use of certification (and the fact that it is a lucrative business) there have been alternative certification boards that are not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) often in "specialties" not recognized by that board. There are a variety of reasons why certification boards such as the one that Dr. Paul started but in general they are not as rigorous as those of the ABMS.

Board certification is not needed to practice medicine in any state and is voluntary. Most hospitals require it for their staff (or at least require that you attempt to get it.) There is a disparity amongst specialties as to pass rate. Radiation Oncology has a very low rate (possibly 35%, they won't publish the figures any more) as does Psychiatry and Neurology while some boards have a 90+% pass rate. Fairly recently the ABMS certification boards went to the 10 year rule in which a re-certification process occurs every ten years. In general the pass rate for recert is in the 90% range. Certification preparation is also a big business these days.

Continuing Medical Education (CME), on the other hand, is an ongoing process dictated by each state. Some states require 50 hours while others demand less. You don't have to go to an exotic place with your mistress to get them, the two of you can get CME credits online or locally at meetings, usually for free.

Dr. Rand Paul is a well educated eye doctor with impeccable credentials. It appears that he has an outpatient practice (not unusual) and is a competent practitioner. He has no complaints against him on the KY Board of Medical Licensure site.