opinion

FSMB: Maintenance-of-licensure changes will not burden doctors

LETTER — Posted Oct. 15, 2012

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Regarding: “Maintaining medical license should not be burdensome,” (Editorial, Aug. 27):

The Federation of State Medical Boards strongly concurs with the overarching point of your informative editorial about our maintenance-of-licensure (MOL) initiative. New systems implemented by state medical boards to encourage lifelong learning should not duplicate programs already in place or be burdensome to physicians. Accordingly, since the MOL concept was first discussed nearly a decade ago, the FSMB has worked in close collaboration with organizations across the House of Medicine to ensure that MOL is aligned with existing continuous professional development initiatives.

The vast majority of physicians already are pursuing CME and training to keep their knowledge and skills current and already will be in substantial compliance with MOL, simply through the various accrediting, credentialing and quality improvement activities they already are engaged in.

For example, the proposed MOL system recommends that state boards recognize physicians actively engaged in maintenance of certification or osteopathic continuous certification in their area of practice as being in substantial compliance with any state’s adopted MOL requirements.

Additionally, physicians would not be required to take an examination to comply. By implementing MOL, state medical boards will encourage individual practice improvement efforts and serve as the foundation for a culture of continuous professional development encompassing the entire medical regulatory system.

Humayun Chaudhry, DO, president and CEO, Federation of State Medical Boards, Euless, Texas

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/10/15/edlt1015.htm.

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