Issue #36 June 2022

 
 
 

This CPPPH newsletter aims to keep readers abreast of current developements and relevant information about physician health and wellbeing in California.

All past issues are available from the CPPPH website: www.CPPPH.org.

Definitions

Wellness activities address quality of life and professional satisfaction for all physicians.

Wellbeing activities focus on an individual physician and provide resources for identifying, evaluating, referring, treating, and monitoring for physicians when addiction, mental health, behavioral issues, and the effects of aging are a concern.


Confidential Assistance Over the Phone

The Physicans’ and Dentists’ Confidential Assistance Line is a 24-hour phone service providing completely confidential doctor-to-doctor assistance for physicians experiencing substance use or mental health issues. Call:

  • (213) 383-2691

 

Send Us Your Comments

We want to hear from you. Send comments to gjara@cppph.org.


RCMA Annual Conference

Riverside County Medical Association’s 34th Annual conference on physician wellbeing will be a virtual one again this year, on Friday, July 15, 2022 from 8:00 am to 12:15 pm. The four topics are:

  • Legal and Legislative Update by Shelley Carder, Esq.
  • Lifecycle of an Addiction Referral by Michel Sucher, M.D.
  • Lifecycle of a Disruptive Referral by Karen Miotto, M.D.
  • Inside the Anatomy of a Comprehensive Assessment by Tracy Zemansky, Ph.D.
The program provides up to 4 hours of CME credit. The registration fee is $169 per person. For medical students and residents, the fee is $50. For full details and the link to register: http://www.rcmadocs.org/pwb.
 



California’s MBC Physician Health and Wellness Program

Proposed regulations that will govern this new program were distributed with the agenda materials for the May 20 meeting of the Medical Board of California. You can see them on pages 32-46 of the attachment HERE. The proposed regulations will be discussed at the Board’s next quarterly meeting on August 25-26, 2022. Once this language is approved by the Board, the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, it will be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law to be published with a 45-day comment period.

Who will run the program?
If no substantive adverse comments are received during the 45-day comment period, the MBC will put out a request for proposal for a vendor that will contract with the MBC to administer the program. The vendor may engage contractors to staff the program and to provide the services of the program, and those contractors must meet the requirements specified in Section 1357.10 (i), (j), and (k) of the proposed regulations.
There is no estimated time or target date for when that RFP might be issued.

How much will it cost each participant?
After the vendor is chosen and a contract between the vendor and the MBC is in place, the MBC staff will draft regulations to set the fees for participants.

 


Colorado’s Physician Health Program

This is the 36th year that the CPHP (https://cphp.org/) has been providing services for Colorado physicians, physician assistants, anesthesiology assistants and trainees. Here are the statistics they published for the quarter that ended December 31, 2021.

  • CPHP served a total of 504 clients during this period: 53 new referrals and active clients
  • The majority (68%) of new clients sought our services voluntarily, the remainder were mandated from their workplace, training program or the Colorado Medical Board.
  • The primary reason clients sought services this quarter was for behavioral concerns (25%), followed by a psychiatric condition (21%), then by physical/medical issues (14%).

Read their annual 2020-2021 annual report here: https://cphp.org/3d-flip-book/21-annual-report/

The program was founded in 1986 when the Colorado legislature passed the Colorado Peer Assistance Act to fund physicians and physician assistants (PAs) struggling with health problems. The Act was designed to add a minimal surcharge on Colorado practitioners’ medical license fees which pay for direct services provided by CPHP’s clinical team. Those services — Evaluation, Assessment, Treatment Referral, Monitoring and Client Support – are available to licensed Colorado physicians and PAs at no cost.
 


Available from CPPPH

You can read all the past issues of CPPPH eNews HERE.
Five CPPPH guideline documents are available HERE.
 


 

 
 
 

Issue #36, June 2022

Our mailing address is:
CPPPH
One Capital Mall, Suite 800
Sacramento, California 95814