Events

Occupational and professional regulatory boards exercise the police powers of the state to protect the public health, safety and welfare by restricting practice by individuals who violate their practice acts.  It is more and more common for these licensing boards to offer chemically dependent practitioners treatment for their addiction as an alternative to discipline. The rationale for these programs is that they provide a path to recovery for affected licensees, thereby retaining them in the workforce, and that, with proper monitoring, they can help avert harm to the public while a licensee receives help.  This is a sound rationale, based on worthy objectives.  Yet it is essential to recognize that chemically dependent licensees can present a danger to the public. As worthwhile as these programs might be, they must be developed and carried out in ways that ensure they are accountable to the public and inspire public confidence and support. This is especially important given that patients typically do not know if a health care professional is enrolled in one of these programs, and given some recent highly critical external audits of some of these programs.

State licensing laws define the permissible scope of practice (SoP) for health care professionals. They specify who can do what to whom, in what settings, and under what conditions. The stated purpose of SoP laws and rules is to ensure consumers that health care workers conduct their practices only in the areas for which they are properly trained. However, as a number of prestigious expert groups have reported, SoP laws and rules too often protect the economic interests of health care professionals by unjustifiably preventing other types of health care professionals from providing competent, affordable, and accessible care. In many cases, proposals to expand SOP laws and rules become turf battles, pitting those who would expand SoP against those who resist such changes. As the PEW Health Professions Commission stated over a decade ago:

Our 2010 Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday and Friday, November 11 – 12, 2010, in Washington, D.C.  The theme of this meeting will be “Scope of Practice, Continuing Competence, and Health Care Reform”.  Until October 11, 2010, the registration fee is $295.00 for CAC members and $345.00 for non-members.  Starting October 11, 2010, the registration fee will be $325.00 for CAC members and $395.00 for non-members.  If you're not sure whether you are affiliated with a CAC member organization, please refer to our 2010 member list.

Our 2010 Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday and Friday, November 11 – 12, 2010, in Washington, D.C.  The theme of this meeting will be “Scope of Practice, Continuing Competence, and Health Care Reform”.  Until October 11, 2010, the registration fee is $295.00 for CAC members and $345.00 for non-members.  Starting October 11, 2010, the registration fee will be $325.00 for CAC members and $395.00 for non-members.  If you're not sure whether you are affiliated with a CAC member organization, please refer to our 2010 member list.

This new blockbuster IOM report calls for major changes in the way health care professionals and the state regulatory boards and national voluntary certification agencies that oversee them approach maintenance of competence. According to the chair of the IOM committee that wrote the report:

• The committee…decided that a new, comprehensive vision of professional development is needed to replace the culture that now envelops continuing education in health care. This report examines development of a continuing professional development (emphasis added) system for all health professionals, explores development of a national continuing education institute, and offers guidance on the establishment and operation of such an institute. I believe the committee’s report will be an important contribution to advance health professional learning, thereby improving quality of care and patient outcomes.

The presenter of this CAC webinar served on the IOM committee that wrote the report.  She will share her insights into the thinking that led to the report’s recommendations.