CLEAR

Insurance: states support physicians

Several states are taking end-of-year steps to retain their currently licensed physicians. The Indiana Department of Insurance has announced lower malpractice surcharge premiums will  be due in 2008 to its Patient's Compensation Fund. Read more.
In Maryland, a taxpayer-financed program to help pay malpractice insurance premiums will be discontinued and $84 million returned to the state's coffers by an insurer. Read more.
New Jersey is distributing $16.4 million to help defray insurance premiums for obstetricians, neurosurgeons and radiologists who agree to continue practicing in the state for two more years. Read more.
The Pennsylvania Senate has voted to extend its malpractice subsidy through 2008. Read more.
On the other hand, an increase in New York premiums may be in the offing. The state-regulated high-risk pool is out of money and insurers are asking the state to use malpractice data to trigger automatic investigations. Read more.

Canada: Competition Bureau recommends less regulation

A new Competition Bureau report asks and answers whether and how Canada's professions could be less regulated and concludes that they can. The goal of the reduction would be to stimulate competition, which is believed to provide consumers with increased access to professional services. Although it looks closely at accountants, lawyers, optometrists, pharmacists and real estate agents, the report concludes that all the professions "currently face a situation that is rich with opportunities to benefit from increased competition." Read the bureau's news release and the report. See also "Shakeup urged for professions."

Canada: re-accreditation for doctors and engineers

"Re-accreditation and the occupations of immigrant doctors and engineers" appears in the latest issue of Canadian Social Trends. The article's key findings, which are based on 2001 population census data, include:
On average, internationally educated doctors have been in Canada about 11 years.
Birthplace has the most significant effect on chances of working as a doctor in Canada.
Internationally educated engineers are older and better educated than Canadian-born. Read the article.

Iowa: new office to support courts

The Iowa Supreme Court has created an Office of Professional Regulation that will provide administrative support to state court administration, the supreme court clerk's office and the court's boards and commissions. Paul Wieck II, currently head of the Supreme Court Office of Boards and Commissions, will direct the new office. Read more.

Georgia: Vaughn to head licensing boards

Secretary of State Karen Handel has appointed Randall D. Vaughn as Director of the Professional Licensing Boards. Read the press release.

Colorado: sunrise report on funeral service practitioners

Colorado is the only state without direct regulation of funeral service practitioners. In 1983, its 70-year-old licensing board was abolished and the Colorado Funeral Directors Association continues to file application for its reinstatement. Today, the state's Office of Policy, Research and Regulatory Reform released a sunrise report on Funeral Practitioners. It finds that if existing federal, state and local regulation of the four practice areas involved (Funeral Directors, Embalmers, Cremationists, and Mortuary Science Practitioners) were properly used, the public is already sufficiently protected from harm. It recommends requiring a Funeral Director at each funeral establishment to register with the Division of Registrations and each establishment to provide consumers with contact information for formal complaints. Read the report.

ASWB: laws & regulations comparison guide

Social Work Laws & Regulations Online Comparison Guide contains current information compiled by The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) on social work in Canada and the United States. The database, which contains several data tables and profiles of individual jurisdictions,  may be accessed through ASWB's main page. 

California: chiropractic board still in spotlight

Following changes that included the appointment of a new board chair and members, dismissal of the executive director, and a new budget recently cut to half its former size, the Board of Chiropractice Examiners is being accused by the Sacramento Bee of lenient disciplinary actions. The new chair says the former regulators acted with "almost ritualistic sadism" in their disciplinary actions. In a flurry of articles, the Bee argues otherwise. Read more:
"Remade board treads gently"
"Misdeeds slipped by examiners"
"Chairman's views run counter to state rules"
"Practice violates code; consequences are few"

Allied Dentistry: ADEA report on workforce models

"Emerging Allied Dental Workforce Models: Considerations for Academic Institutions," is reported in the November issue of the American Dental Education Association's Journal of Dental Education. Intended to better serve areas with the greatest dental needs, the models discussed include Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner, the Community Dental Health Coordinator, the Oral Preventive Assistant, and the Dental Health Aide Therapist. Although the report is available online only to ADEA members, RDH Magazine reports that a report copy may be obtained by e-mailing WardL@adea.org. Read more.