Contact Info:
Drew Carlson
Federation of State Medical Boards
(817) 868-4043
dcarlson@fsmb.org

Sacha Adorno
Steege/Thomas Communications
(215) 747-7700
sadorno@steegethomson.com

PROTECTING THE PUBLIC AS PHYSICIANS CHANGE THE WAY THEY PRACTICE
New report by the Federation of State Medical Boards looks at trends in physician regulation and how state boards continuously work to improve medical practice and protect the public as technology and other forces make health care more complex.

For Immediate Release: April 27, 2006

• Want to know if the doctor you are about to see has ever been disciplined for unprofessional practices? You can find the most up-to-date information about the physician online through your state medical board.
• Is your child looking to score a controlled substance for recreational use? Unfortunately, he can order it online easily and quickly, without even consulting a doctor — it doesn't matter that it's from an unknown source and the drug's composition is questionable.

On the one hand, technology empowers health care consumers, putting information at their fingertips. On the other, it endangers, allowing "rogue" pharmacies to bypass physicians and sell prescription drugs directly to consumers.

For better and worse, technology and other forces in modern life are reshaping the practice of medicine, changing not only the way physicians provide care but also the way patients access it. A new report by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) looks at how state medical boards, often with the leadership of the FSMB, are adapting to the changes around them and implementing new systems to benefit and protect health care consumers through physician regulation.

Trends in Physician Regulation, the first of what will become an annual look at the work of state medical boards, highlights key initiatives and policy developments that impact patient safety.

"Medical boards do so much more than just discipline doctors," says James Thompson, M.D., president and CEO of FSMB. "They establish standards of practice to protect the public from harm, especially as health care becomes more mobile and technology based, and educate doctors about changes that affect the way they practice medicine. The role of medical boards has never been more important."

Among the trends covered in the report:

• Collaborating to serve and protect in times of national crisis. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, an exodus of physicians, displaced by the storm, from the areas hit hardest coincided with an influx of physicians from other regions seeking to help the thousands in need of care in the Gulf states. New technology and old-fashioned co-operation allowed FSMB to help the region's medical boards provide emergency credentials while protecting the public from unscrupulous or even "phony" physicians seeking to take advantage of the situation.

  FSMB is also collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to build a database of physician contact information that the CDC can then use to quickly alert and mobilize physicians in the event of a bioterrorism attack or threat.

• Monitoring "rogue" Internet pharmacies. FSMB operates the National Clearinghouse on Internet Prescribing (NCIP), which identifies physicians that use the Internet inappropriately, writing prescriptions via "rogue" pharmacies for patients they have never seen. NCIP provides information to state and federal regulatory agencies, including member boards and drug and law enforcement agencies, which then take action to stop the unlawful activity. Nearly 40 boards have taken disciplinary action against offending physicians. The FSMB has developed guidelines for the appropriate use of the Internet in medical practice, and nearly 30 states have developed policies establishing parameters for physicians' use of the Internet to prescribe medication.

• Helping health care consumers make better choices. Nearly every state medical board offers free physician profiles to the public. Unlike information provided by for-profit firms and health care companies, state boards gather and verify information directly from physicians. And the health care community generally views board profiles as the most accurate and current data available.

• Licensing and regulating doctors across state lines. More than one in five practicing physicians now has a license in two or more jurisdictions. Physicians' increased mobility creates greater choice for all health care consumers — and especially important access for consumers in underserved communities. The FSMB and state boards are working to support this development by making it easier for physicians to obtain licenses in multiple states. Reducing duplication and improving information sharing among states will preserve each state's ability to tailor the process to its own requirements.

The Trends report also includes FSMB's Annual Summary of Board Actions, a state-by-state listing of disciplinary actions taken by medical boards during 2005.