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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:
Send Us Your Comments
We want to hear from you. Send comments to gjara@cppph.org.
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California’s Physician Health and Wellness Program
Proposed regulations that will govern this new program were approved at the August 25th meeting of the Medical Board of California, and the MBC staff was authorized to complete the next required steps without bringing them back to the Board for any further action. But that is not the final step, as you know if you have been following this. The staff will now send the proposed regulations, as required, to the Board’s parent agencies, the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. You can see the proposed regulations on pages 32-46 of the attachment HERE.
If approved there, the proposed regulations will be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law to be published with a 45-day comment period.
What Was Helpful to A Physician Being Monitored?
An article in the December 2021 issue of em>The American Journal on Addictions, reported a study conducted to identify essential components of a Physician Health Program (PHP) management for substance use disorder, and to assess whether positive outcomes are sustained over time.
The study, “Essential Components of Physician Health Program Monitoring For Substance Use Disorder: A Survey Of Participants 5 Years Post Successful Program Completion” reports the top-rated components, with each receiving a mean rating of at least 6.2 out of 7:
- signing a PHP monitoring agreement
- participation in the PHP
- formal SUD treatment
- attending 12-step meetings
The American Journal on Addictions is the official journal of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP). For a copy of the article, click HERE.
Essential Components of a Wellbeing Committee
CPPPH has identified the core areas of information and experience that form the best practices for effective functioning of medical staff wellbeing committees and has organized the information it into five topic areas:
- The Role of the Wellbeing Committee (WBC) vis-a-vis the Medical Executive Committee (MEC)
- The First Meeting with a Physician Referred to the Committee
- Evaluating the Situation and the Physician
- Monitoring and the On-going Work of the Committee
- Confidentiality, Reporting, and Record Keeping
In a series of five Tuesday noontime videoconferences between October 11 and November 15, experienced faculty will review each topic, apply the information to a case illustration, and answer questions. Details about the videoconferences are HERE.
Drug Testing 2022
A guideline on drug testing titled, What Do You Test For, When, Why and How, is the basis for a videoconference offered by CPPPH with the California Society of Addiction Medicine on September 22. Details about the guideline and the videoconference are HERE.
Actions Against Physician Licenses Related to Substance Use and Psychological or Physical Impairment
In this JAMA Health Forum June 3, 2022 article, the authors evaluate all actions against physician licenses between 2004 and 2020 reported in the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). A table compares the age of the physician, the type and length of the adverse action against the license, geographic region of the US, and other elements.
The authors note that “… physician license actions represent only the most severe cases of impairment. Nevertheless, these findings suggest continued areas to improve mental health and support offerings for physicians, particularly interventions that may preclude the need for license actions in the first place.” For a copy of the article, click HERE.
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