Practicing Physicians of America

Dear Colleague,

My name is Westby Fisher, MD and I work as the Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at a large health care system in the Chicago Metro area. I am certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in three specialties: Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Cardiac Electrophysiology.  Because I am nearly 60 years of age, I have watched ABIM’s board certification go from a completely voluntary credential available at the start of our careers to the addition of an entirely new Maintenance of Certification (MOC®) requirement that is time-consuming and expensive with no established relationship to improved physician care or patient outcomes. 
 
Practicing Physicians of America (PPA) (https://practicingphysician.org/ ) is sponsoring a campaign through GoFundMe to raise funds in support of three federal class action lawsuits seeking an end to MOC® pending against the ABIM , the American Board of Radiology (ABR), and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology  (ABPN). A video explaining why we feel this GoFundMe page is necessary is included below.

I was honored to be the very first person to commit to this campaign almost a year ago in the amount of $1,000, and have shown my continuing commitment by donating an additional $2,500 since then. Simply click on the “Donate” button above to make your donation. Our original goal of $150,000 in seed money was raised in under six months, with over 750 contributors. The goal is currently $400,000 to help support the next phase of litigation. The oppositions to the motions to dismiss filed by ABIM, ABR, and ABPN are filed and awaiting rulings. In the interim, we are continuing our outreach to the physician community concerning MOC, preparing for discovery, and consulting experts assisting with the litigation.

If you desire anonymity/privacy, you can designate your contribution as anonymous. 

You also have the option to add a “tip” to help maintain the GoFundMe platform; unlike other websites GoFundMe does not charge a fee to host our campaign. Any “tip” is entirely voluntary, goes directly to GoFundMe, and will not be counted toward our goal. One-hundred percent of your donation will be used to help offset costs and legal fees in the three lawsuits (other than any fee charged by third party payment processors).
 
For those wanting to donate by check, please note “Legal Fund” in the Memo and mail it to:

Practicing Physicians of America, Inc. 
876 Loop 337, Building 101
New Braunfels, TX 78130

With your ongoing support the fight against MOC® will continue to be vigorously pursued.

Westby G. Fisher, MD
Member, Executive Board
Practicing Physicians of America, Inc.