State medical boards: Adopt an EHR to keep your medical license

While EMR adoption may not soon become a condition of licensure, the Federation of State Medical Boards says that using an EHR may be helpful for physicians wishing to demonstrate clinical competence when it comes time to renew their medical licenses.

"As the Federation of State Medical Boards works with its member boards in the months and years ahead to implement [a program called] Maintenance of Licensure, it is clear that electronic health records will be of value as doctors fulfill that professional obligation and demonstrate ongoing clinical competence," FSMB President and CEO Dr. Humayun Chaudhry says in a press release. A framework for the MOL program, adopted in April, calls for physicians to take part in continuous reflective self-assessment, assessment of knowledge and skills, and demonstration of performance in practice, AAPF News Now reports.

The organization, representing 70 state and territorial medical boards across the country, says that EHRs would be helpful in the first and third of these three activities.

"The implementation of MOL by state licensing boards for the nation's actively licensed physicians offers one more reason for doctors to adopt health information technology," Chaudhry said Aug. 5 in Washington, D.C., at a press briefing on meaningful use, according to excerpts of his remarks posted on the Health Affairs blog.

For more information:

- read Chaudhry's post on thh Health Affairs blog

- here's an FSMB press release (.pdf)

- check out this AAFP News Now story from the American Academy of Family Physicians

- visit this Federation of State Medical Boards website on Maintenance of Licensure

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