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General Guidelines
Personal References
About Education
Medical and Specialty
Boards
Professional Organizations
Background Checks
Website Referrals
Media Prominence
Cosmetic Surgery Consultants
Background Checks
A background check of education, training, board certification,
and license status, or of malpractice claim history
can be another source of information, although malpractice
history will be more difficult to come by.
No Charge- Many government organizations provide
general information at no charge to the public. The
first place to start is to verify that the doctor has
a current license to practice medicine.
You can do this for free through the American
Medical Association (AMA) or through your state
medical board. The report titled "Physician Select"
will verify medical school, training, and certification,
but not disciplinary action.
(This is different than the AMA Master File which is
not free, but does include a record of disciplinary
action). Some state medical boards provide similar information,
however there is no standard among the boards for information
that is reported.
You can also verify board certification through the
American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) online
at www.certifieddoctor.com
or by calling 1-866-ASK-ABMS.
Remember, though, that there are other certifying boards
that are not included in the ABMS such as Cosmetic Surgery,
so if you're doctor is not listed here or has a primary
specialty with no sub-specialty, he or she may also
have obtained additional certification through another
organization or association.
Finally, if you have a lot of free time, you can research
any claims and action taken against a particular physician
at the local courthouse. A small fee may be charged
to reproduce documents.
Paid Verification Services - Another option
in researching your cosmetic surgeon is to pay a nominal
fee (up to $9.95) to a verification service to run a
background check on a specific doctor.
Many of these companies will verify education, residency,
licensure, ABMS certification, and disciplinary action,
but not provide malpractice history. (This is for the
physician's protection, as many claims are made frivolously
or without basis and publishing this information could
needlessly damage a physician's reputation).
To find these services, you can search online for "physician
background check", or similar terms. (This website
has no affiliation with or financial interest in any
of these companies).
The Federation of Medical Specialty Boards (FMSB) oversees
all of the United States medical boards, and collects
data on board actions taken against physicians that
are certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
For about ten dollars per report, consumers can access
the database at www.docinfo.org
to search hundreds of thousands U.S. licensed physicians
by name, address location and medical specialty.
To Next Section - Websites,
Media, and Surgery Consultants
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