CLEAR

Canada to use more FMGs

Canada's Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh has announced that Ottawa will spend $75 million over the next five years on a new national agency designed to bring more foreign-trained medical professionals into the system.  The agency will verify the credentials of foreign-trained doctors, manage a website to help foreign-trained doctors prepare to become licensed, and establish a database to track their progress.

$75 million to license medical professionals

In another measure to address practitioner shortages, the federal government has struck an agreement with Ontario to allow recognition of the credentials held by underemployed resident foreign-trained professionals.

Immigrant MDs OK'd to work in province

Missouri POST report released

Missouri Department of Public Safety's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Program's annual report shows that 42 state peace officers had their licenses revoked or probated, or surrendered their licenses voluntarily while under investigation.  Disciplinary action for peace officers moves through the system in relatively quick order.

2004 disciplinary report for law enforcement officers released

Alberta questions acupuncture head

Alberta is looking into questions surrounding the credentials of its chair of the province's acupuncture examination board.  Chair David Chu, who practiced acupuncture in Calgary for nineteen years, has been asked to provide documentation of his medical training as a physician, that he has a PhD, and that he has traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture training.

Province looking at head of acupuncture board's credentials

Georgia contractors board

The Georgia legislature has created a State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors. The new board will be established July 1, 2005 in the Professional Licensing Boards Division of the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.

State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors
Georgia Secretary of State

WI pharmacist v. patient needs

The Wisconsin Pharmacy Board has reprimanded a pharmacist for his 2002 refusal to fill a woman's birth control prescription. The pharmacist cited his religious beliefs as the reason for not filling the prescription and for refusing its transfer to another pharmacy.  The board argued that his action potentially endangered the woman's life because "every pregnancy has the potential for morbidity or mortality."  The board ordered him to pay $20,000 in costs and attend classes on ethics.

Pharmacist punished for ignoring patient's needs

AK nurse files class action suit

A licensed nurse has filed a class action suit against the State of Alaska for providing her address on its Division of Occupational Licensing Web site. Licensing information and addresses for various state-regulated professions are publicly available on the site through the link called "professional license search."

Nurse sues to keep address out of public records 

Florida reconsiders genetic counselors

Despite Governor Jeb Bush's veto just last year, bills to regulate the profession of genetic counseling are moving forward from both the House and the Senate. Supporters of the proposed Board of Genetic Counselors believe that their only stumbling block is convincing the governor of its validity. He referred to an earlier justification effort as "vague and speculative."

"Licensing needed, genetic counselors say"  St. Petersburg Times Online
Draft Genetic Counseling Practice Act

Alberta may certify truck drivers

Following a license mill scandal, Alberta Transportation Minister Lyle Oberg has proposed a 37-week pilot program to train and certify truck drivers as professionals.  If fully implemented, this will become the first Canadian mandatory certification program for truck drivers. One likely educational program is the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council's Earning Your Wheels program. It would be taught by driving schools that meet council and provincial criteria and be monitored by Red Deer College.
More from Today's Trucking

Louisiana, New Mexico Psychologists Prescribing

Following New Mexico's lead, some Louisiana psychologists are prescribing drugs.  The fight to win prescriptive privileges was high profile and the actual implementation once the Louisiana law passed hardly noticed.  In both states, prescribing certifications are only issued to licensed psychologists who complete specialized training and pass a national examination.  Read more:

Psychologists begin prescribing drugs in Louisiana - Dateline Alabama.com
New Mexico First State to Implement Prescribing Law for Psychologists - The New Mexico Psychological Association
Louisiana grants psychologists prescriptive authority - American Psychological Association Online

Alaska Dental Health Aides Begin Work

Despite opposition from the American Dental Association and the Alaska Dental Society, dental aides have begun work in rural Alaska.  The dental aides program has three levels of aides, the most basic of which provides prevention education. The second level practitioner works with a dentist, cleaning and filling teeth. The third, called dental health aide therapists, can perform some tasks usually reserved for dentists, such as extracting teeth and preparing teeth for fillings. Licensed dentists must give permission for the therapists to perform any procedure.  Proponents of the program say that it will help meet a need to provide dental services to Alaska's widely spread population.   More: Program promises better care in the villages of Alaska .

As an alternative to the dental aides program, the American Dental Association and the Alaska Dental Society have established the Alaska Backlog Program intended to bring dentists to Rural Alaska. The ADA says that "Administrative matters, including licensing, credentialing and malpractice liability are among current barriers to bringing dentists to rural villages of Alaskan Natives."