History
The Federation of State Physician
Health Programs, Inc. (FSPHP) evolved from initiatives taken by the American
Medical Association (AMA) and individual state physician health programs, focusing
upon rehabilitation and monitoring of physicians with psychoactive substance
use disorders as well as mental and physical illness. The initial success of
these efforts led to the creation of an independent organization that would
carry out this mission in a consistent and objective fashion. Beginning in December
1990, the FSPHP assumed this role.
Physicians with psychoactive substance
use disorders, physical illness and mental health problems have long been documented
throughout history. Formal efforts to deal with physician impairment existed
as far back as 1958. At that time the Federation
of State Medical Boards (FSMB) of the United States identified drug addiction
and alcoholism among doctors as a disciplinary problem. It called for the development
of a model program of probation and rehabilitation that could be adopted by
individual state boards. Ten years later, another attempt was made to encourage
the development of physician health programs when the FSMB approved a resolution
calling for nationwide programs.
In a landmark policy paper prepared
by the AMA Council on Mental Health, "The Sick Physician: Impairment by Psychiatric
Disorders, Including Alcoholism and Drug Dependence," the AMA acknowledged physician
impairment. In 1974, model legislation was developed that offered a therapeutic
alternative to discipline, recognizing alcoholism and other drug addictions
as illnesses. The AMA held a Physician Health Conference in April 1975 and a
second in 1977 where it officially recognized the psychiatrically disturbed
physician. A flurry of articles published in the late 1970s increased education
and awareness about physician addiction. By 1980, less than a decade after the
AMA's policy paper, "all but three of the 54 U.S. medical societies of all states
and jurisdictions had authorized or implemented impaired physician programs."
Today, all states have responded and developed programs which operate within
the parameters of state regulation and legislation and provide many different
levels of service to physicians in need.
The FSPHP is now an independent, duly constituted
professional, educational and nonprofit corporation with elected officers and
a Board of Directors.
Initiated by several states with advanced programs, it now has a membership
of 42 state programs. In an attempt to foster continued communication and understanding
between the FSPHP and the FSMB, annual meetings of the FSPHP and the FSMB
are often scheduled at the same meeting location to allow participation
both meetings.
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