Avoid penalty, heed TMB’s advertising rules

By C. M. Schade, M.D., Ph.D.

The Texas Medical Board revised its advertising rules effective Sept. 20, 2007. The TMB has disciplined physicians for false and/or deceptive advertising. I was surprised to discover that my professional business cards and letterhead are considered a form of advertising and are covered by the new TMB rule! One of the more common problems concerns the use of the words “board certification.”

“A physician is authorized to use the term ‘board certified’ in any advertising for his or her practice only if the specialty board that conferred the certification and the certifying organization is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties, or the Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists, or is the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. (Rule 164.4)”

Physicians have been disciplined by mistakenly listing that they are board-certified by an organization that is not one of the three mentioned above. The new rule allows a physician to state that he is a member, fellow, diplomat or certified by a named organization if that organization meets the requirements as listed in rule 164.4. See the TMB website, www.tmb.state.tx.us.

I was very surprised to find that the terms “board eligible,” “board qualified,” or any similar words or phrases calculated to convey the same meaning may not be used in physician advertising.

It is also interesting to note that each licensee is held individually responsible for the form and content of any and all advertising. In other words, if you are a member of a group and someone else ordered and printed the material, that is not an excuse and you will still be held personally responsible for violating the TMB’s advertising rule.

It has now been a year since the TMB passed the new pain-management rules. It is the physician’s responsibility to have a pain-management agreement and informed consent documented in every patient’s chart who is being treated for chronic pain with opioids (TMB Rule 170). A sample Pain Management Agreement and Informed Consent Agreement in English and Spanish can be downloaded from the Texas Pain Society website, www.texaspain.org.