News & Notes

Abstract

FSMB member medical boards play a very important role in the FSMB’s policy-making process by identifying issues of importance to medical regulation and then submitting resolutions for consideration by the FSMB’s House of Delegates.Issues identified by boards in recent years have led to the development of new policies and programs that have helped enhance public protection across the country.Member boards are invited to submit resolutions for consideration by the House of Delegates at its meeting during the FSMB Annual Meeting in Minneapolis in May 2023. Resolutions should be submitted by March 3, 2023.For more information, please contact Pat McCarty, Director of FSMB Leadership Services, at pmccarty@fsmb.org.The American Medical Association Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force continues to advance evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and physicians to help end the nation’s drug-related overdose and death epidemic. The Task Force recently released its 2022 Overdose Epidemic Report.The report indicates that in the past decade, physicians and other health care professionals have reduced opioid prescribing in every state—by nearly 50% nationally. They have increased the use of state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in every state—more than 1.1 billion queries of PDMPs in 2021. Buprenorphine dispensed for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) more than doubled in the past 10 years, and naloxone dispensed has increased by nearly 800% since 2012. Despite these positive efforts, drug-related overdose and death continue to increase, primarily due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs.The full report is available at AMA-Advocacy-2022-Overdose-Epidemic-Report_090622.pdf.The Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) has released its annual State Legislation Roundup. Enacted state telehealth bills in the 2022 legislative session followed trends forged in the previous 2021 legislative cycle, although at a slightly lesser volume.While 2020 was largely focused on scrambling to meet the needs of the population during the COVID-19 pandemic through temporary telehealth waivers and flexibilities, both 2021 and 2022 challenged states to decide how to translate their temporary COVID-19 policies into permanent telehealth policies, and in many cases adjusting their previously passed laws concerning telehealth. There was also a proliferation of legislation that addressed cross-state licensing issues in earnest through registration processes, targeted licensing exceptions and compacts. Among 41 states and DC, 180 legislative bills tracked by CCHP passed in the 2022 legislative session. This is down from the 201 legislative bills enacted in 47 states in 2021 but remains higher than the 104 bills passed in 2020.The full report is available at https://www.cchpca.org/2022/11/2022-Leg-Roundup-All-States.pdfThe Commissioners of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) held their Annual Meeting on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Part of the meeting included the election of officers. The newly elected officers assumed their positions at the conclusion of the meeting as follows: Commissioner Mark Spangler from West Virginia was re-elected ChairCommissioner Karen Silas from Alabama was elected Vice-ChairCommissioner Kenneth Cleveland was elected TreasurerThe role of Past Chair will be vacant