Reflecting on the past year, the pandemic challenged medical regulation and exposed its strengths and weaknesses. Despite the extraordinary spread of COVID and the disruption in health care delivery, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the nation’s state medical boards remained steadfast in their commitment of protecting the public. Hopefully, we are witnessing a recovery from the pandemic and can focus on opportunities that create a regulatory framework for the future.
The pandemic exposed a health care workforce in crisis, facing burnout and suicide, health inequity resulting in disparate treatments and outcomes, the unfortunate politicization of medical care and the challenging issue of misinformation.
While these difficult times have challenged the system of medical regulation, in my role as Chair I look forward to working closely with the FSMB as we remain committed to strengthening our member boards to be independent and ensure credibility and public trust. Facing the challenges that lie ahead of us, as true partners, we will create a stronger community of medical regulators.
To achieve our mission in the year ahead, the FSMB and its member medical boards will focus on key initiatives regarding advocacy, collaboration, education and communication, technology, and organizational excellence.
Advocacy. Today we are witnessing the politicization of medicine and an unprecedented intrusion of legislation undermining the authority of medical boards. This unfortunate movement has resulted in confusion regarding the role of medical boards in the health care system.
As a key initiative, I will work with the FSMB to advocate against legislative overreach—specifically, legislation that limits state medical boards’ authority—and will reinforce each boards’ regulatory expertise and decision-making process. Our policies and guidelines will always be based on sound principles and evidence-based medicine to protect the public and ensure the quality of care.
Our Advocacy Office, based in Washington, DC, has been exceptionally effective in monitoring legislative and policy developments at the federal and state level, and it will play an important role as we embark on this effort.
Working together with the advocacy team, we will, of course, also continue to further our positions regarding physician wellness and burnout, physician sexual misconduct, anti-trust reform, appropriate use of telemedicine, and other issues that impact medical regulation. We remain committed to representing the interests of the state medical and osteopathic medical boards in all we do, with strong leadership on their behalf.
Collaboration. Our responsibility to protect the public will require unity. At a time of significant division and polarization, collaboration will build public and member trust. More than ever, we need to find common ground and purpose with our member boards and organizations within the House of Medicine.
Throughout the pandemic, we observed the insidious epidemic of opioid abuse and the sobering number of related deaths. Appropriately, our member boards identified opioid abuse and treatment as a top priority for the FSMB. Hearing your call for action, we are formally convening the new FSMB Workgroup on Opioid and Addiction Treatment to address policies aimed at reducing this public health crisis. This workgroup will engage a broad range of expert stakeholders from the medical community and federal regulators to update all existing FSMB policies related to opioids, including prescribing, opioid use disorder screening and treatment, and physician health. We are not alone in this fight. Collaborating with our colleagues from Pharmacy, Nursing, and Dentistry, the inaugural meeting of the Opioid Regulatory Collaborative was held in March 2022, in association with the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative. This group will also address novel resources and strategies aimed at the epidemic.
The FSMB also witnessed the rise of misinformation/disinformation by licensees during the pandemic, resulting in an increasing number of physician complaints received by our member boards. Unfortunately, this issue undermines public trust in our medical institutions and erodes the patient-physician relationship. Responding to the “infodemic,” our Ethics and Professionalism Committee developed a statement denouncing medical misinformation and provided recommendations on appropriate actions by state boards. In the year ahead, combatting medical misinformation will require building a coalition with the House of Medicine to speak with a collective voice.
In addition, acknowledging that racism is a barrier to health equity, we will continue our efforts to address systemic racism and mitigate inequities within our regulatory processes. Partnering with our state boards, the FSMB’s Workgroup on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Medical Regulation has identified best practices to help boards address structural racism and mitigate systemic inequities within our regulatory framework. This important work will continue into 2023 and will include collaboration with medical experts nationally and internationally. Achieving equity in our health care system requires equity in our regulatory system.
Education and Communication.Education and Communication are essential for medical boards to have a strong voice nationally. Continued focus on virtual programs through webinars, social media, and podcasts will be necessary to enhance the effectiveness of our state boards. Raising public and physician awareness of state medical board function will be an important goal for 2023. To achieve our goal, we will establish a State Medical Board Communication Campaign to create marketing strategies and messaging for use by the FSMB and the state medical boards.
We will continue in-person and virtual educational offerings designed to expand our reach to medical regulators. These extensive offerings will include the FSMB Virtual Education Program, along with CME activities. A record number of health care providers (more than 22,000) turned to the FSMB for CME-accredited activities in 2021. This impressive statistic, coupled with the excellent news that FSMB has been reaccredited as a CME provider through 2025, demonstrates the importance of the FSMB as an invaluable educational resource. As always, the FSMB Education Committee remains hard at work on broadening the scope of relevant topics and exploring alternative webinar platforms to improve member experience.
In addition, the restructuring of the Journal of Medical Regulation to include an Oversight Committee and an independent Editorial Board will enhance JMR’s reputation and position it for indexing, a marker of academic quality. JMR will also continue to serve as a primary vehicle through which the medical regulatory community shares new knowledge and best practices about physician licensure, discipline, and regulation. Throughout 2022, JMR will also continue its series on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Medical Regulation.
Technology. Shaping the future of medical regulation will require the adoption of innovative technologies such as blockchain, AI, or cloud computing. The FSMB is pleased to convene The FSMB Advisory Council on Innovation and Technology to lead our digital transformation and identify key technologies and innovative strategies that will support data, research, and license portability. This group will explore technologies to support digital credentialing for initial licensure, digital verifications of licenses and develop a modernized system of standardized data sets to monitor disciplinary actions. This change will position the FSMB as the primary, trusted source for licensure.
Organizational Excellence.In the next decade, health care delivery will transform radically, requiring the evolution of medical regulation. We will need to encourage new models of collaboration, create best-in-class initiatives, and leverage innovative technologies to develop a more resilient, efficient, and equitable regulatory system. Achieving our strategic priorities will necessitate a strong commitment to our member medical boards. We are well positioned to answer this call. The member boards of the FSMB are dedicated public servants committed to ensuring safe medical practice and high-quality care. Together, we will rise to the challenges ahead.
I am profoundly grateful for the honor and privilege to serve as the Chair of the FSMB this year. While we are still amid some very challenging times, I am confident that by working together with the outstanding FSMB staff, state-board leaders, and colleagues from health care organizations, we will achieve our mission of serving as a national voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, data, research, and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best practices.