New FSMB Policy on Physician Health Shaped by ASAM Leaders

On May 20, the Federation of State Medical Boards’ (FSMB) House of Delegates approved the new Policy on Physician Illness and Impairment: Towards a Model that Optimizes Patient Safety and Physician Health. ASAM leaders Dr. Yngvild Olsen, Chair, Legislative Advocacy Committee, and Dr. Jeff Selzer, Chair, Public Policy Committee, served as ASAM representatives and subject matter experts on the FSMB Workgroup on Physician Impairment, which reviewed and revised the 2011 FSMB Policy on Physician Impairment to develop the new policy. The updated policy recognizes that stigma associated with illness and impairment among physicians can discourage treatment seeking. It encourages state medical boards to take steps to promote physician health and rehabilitation, and to reduce obstacles for seeking treatment. Importantly, the new policy incorporates recommendations from ASAM’s Public Policy Statement on Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals with Addiction that champion multiple avenues and lower barriers to treatment for physicians with a potentially impairing illness. 

Read the full Policy here.