FSMB Adopts New Policies
The FSMB’s House of Delegates considered and adopted four new policies at FSMB’s 110th Annual Meeting in New Orleans in April 2022.
Expectations Regarding Medical Misinformation and Disinformation contains several important recommendations for medical boards and physicians that clarify expectations about sharing truthful and transparent medical information with the public, basing treatment recommendations on the best available scientific evidence, and anticipating difficult conversations with patients about controversial topics. The policy follows months of discussion and deliberation by the FSMB’s Ethics and Professionalism Committee and outside experts in law and ethics on the topic of medical misinformation and disinformation.
Use of Telemedicine Technologies in the Practice of Medicine provides guidance to state medical boards for regulating the use of telemedicine technologies in the practice of medicine, while raising awareness for licensees and patients alike as to the appropriate standards of care in the delivery of medical services via telemedicine technologies.
DEI in Medical Regulation and Patient Care recommends meaningful and achievable steps that state medical boards, the FSMB, and our partners in medical education, regulation and practice may wish to consider as action items to eliminate racism and bias from health care delivery.
Emergency Preparedness and Response contains recommendations and resources designed to assist medical boards during the COVID-19 pandemic and in future public health and national emergencies.
To read the full reports, please visit https://www.fsmb.org/advocacy/news-releases/fsmb-adopts-policies-on-medical-disinformation-telemedicine-deiemergency-preparedness-and-response/
IMLC Update
In early May, 2022, Connecticut became the 38th Member State of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, joining 35 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam.
On May 24, 2022, Rhode Island SB 2606 passed the Senate and moves to the House for consideration. There is also IMLC legislation pending in Massachusetts (SB 2774), North Carolina (SB 380), Missouri (HB 2004), and another bill in Rhode Island (HB 8047).
For more information about the IMLC or IMLC Commission, please contact Marschall Smith at [email protected]. Questions regarding the status and extent of specific states’ participation in the IMLC should be directed to the respective state board.
CCHP Releases Telehealth Report
The Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) released its bi-annual summary of state telehealth policy changes for Spring 2022. The information for this summary report covers updates in state telehealth policy made between January and April 2022. CCHP is also making available a state summary chart showing where states stand on many key telehealth policies, as well as an infographic highlighting the key findings.
The main areas where changes were made over the past five months fall in the three buckets that CCHP uses to categorize information within its Policy Finder: Medicaid policy, private payer policy, and regulation of health professionals.
The full report is available at Spring2022_ExecutiveSummaryfinal.pdf (cchpca.org)
State Opioid Response Grant Available
On May 19, 2022 HHS, through SAMHSA, announced that $1.5 billion in funding through the State Opioid Response (SOR) grant program would be distributed among the 59 states and territories, according to a formula incorporating overdose-related mortality rate and commitment to increasing access to FDA-approved medications for preventing, treating, and recovery support for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and other concurrent substance use disorders (SUDs). Please visit State Opioid Response Grants/SAMHSA for more information.
