In 2003, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) established a special committee to develop a position statement regarding the responsibility of state medical boards to ensure licensees are competent over the course of their professional careers and to develop strategies for state medical boards to use in implementing programs to carry out that responsibility. Since that time, the committee has issued two interim reports and a draft final report, which was distributed for comment last fall.

On May 3, the FSMB House of Delegates voted on next steps in finalizing a model policy for new state regulations that would ask physicians to demonstrate continuing competence in order to maintain active medical licenses. The House of Delegates approved five guiding principles for policy development and endorsed a recommendation for additional research into the impact the model policy would have on state medical boards, licensed physicians and other stakeholder organizations.

This webpage is intended to provide easy access to up-to-date information about the FSMB's ongoing work on maintenance of licensure. Comments and feedback on this work can be sent to scmol@fsmb.org.

For more information, please contact Carol Clothier, Vice President of Physician Competency Initiatives for FSMB, at cclothier@fsmb.org or Frances Cain, Director of the Post-Licensure Assessment System for FSMB, at fcain@fsmb.org.