Proliferation of Certification in Medical Specialties: Productive or Counterproductive

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Abstract
In a recent discussion of the profession's responsibility for assuring physician competence, I expressed concern that our present era of superspecialization might create "mandatory overqualification for the health care task at hand."1 That generic statement deserves explanation and clarification for my meaning to be understood. The "task at hand" is to improve the quality of health care. Quality of health care for a selected individual patient is not equatable to quality of care for a population. The case may be made that proliferation of certification in medical specialties may be counterproductive in terms of health care for the United States . . .

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