Can a doctor who is not certified provide a legal doctor's note?

Question

As an employer, I am getting doctor's notes from the same doctor who is not certified. Are these acceptable?

Answer 1

That's up to you, I think.  If he is not board certified, he's not actually even allowed to refer to himself as MD, so i wouldn't accept them.

Answer 2

No, that could be any average Joe on the street who calls himself a doctor. I would tell the employee to get a doctor's note from a certified doctor, and that you will no longer accept notes from this "doctor"

Answer 3

What do you mean, he isn't certified?

In the US, a doctor is LICENSED to practice medicine after he completes his residency.  This is all he needs to begin practicing.  CERTIFICATION comes from a board that oversees specialty training; for example, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology is responsible for certifying ob-gyns.  There are 24 specialty boards in America that certify medical specialists, and here's where you can find out about those 24 boards and how doctors are certified:

http://www.abms.org/

So if you have an employee who is bringing you a doctor's note from someone who does not have a LICENSE to practice in your state, maybe you should think about calling the local police and the state medical board and reporting an unlicensed, illegal practitioner.

Your state board of medical examiners can also tell you whether or not a particular person is licensed to practice in your state.  You should be able to search right from their web site to verify that this doctor is practicing legally.

If the doctor isn't CERTIFIED in a specialty, that doesn't necessarily mean he can't PRACTICE in that specialty.  For example, many different specialists are board-certified in Internal Medicine and then go on to do a fellowship in a subspecialty like oncology or rheumatology, but they don't take any additional certification exams in oncology or rheumatology.

Again - go to your state's web site and search to see if this doctor is licensed in your state.  If he is not, then he needs to be reported and you'll have to deal with whether or not to tell your employee that their doctor's notes aren't acceptable.