Grant Funding
Our Grant Awardees Are Tackling Important Issues for Medical Regulators
At the very heart of the FSMB Foundation is the distribution of grants benefiting medical regulation. The grants have supported research and education on a wide variety of topics, ranging from opioid misuse and physician health and well being to emergency preparedness and recidivism. We have worked closely with leading health care partners — ranging from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to the National Academy of Medicine — in this effort, which has helped keep patients safe and improved the integrity of the practice of medicine. Over the last decade, the Foundation has provided more than $600,000 in grant support for a wide range of research and education projects.
Latest Grant Focus: Medical Regulatory Complaint-Data Research
The Foundation launched a new grant initiative in 2022, aimed at advancing medical regulatory complaint-data research. Each year, state medical boards receive and investigate thousands of complaints against physicians and other licensed health professionals by patients and families in their care. The processes used by the boards to address these complaints vary, but central to each board’s adjudication of its complaints is the compilation and use of data about the allegations and facts of each case.
The goal of the the new grants program was to help individual state boards improve their use of information about complaints to advance patient protection; advance dialogue within the medical regulatory community about the use of complaint data; and encourage best practices in the way complaint data is collected and used.
In early 2023, the North Carolina Medical Board was awarded $20,000 to conduct a physician assistant disciplinary study, which is exploring when board actions related to substandard care occur during a PA’s career. The hypothesis is that PAs tend to encounter board actions at the beginning or at the end of their careers. Data from this study will also help address considerations pertaining to physician supervision and policies that could increase access to care.
FSMB Foundation Funding
Additional 2022-23 Grant Recipients
New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners
The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners was awarded $10,000 to help support activities associated with the implementation of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Foundation IMLC grants have helped advance this important licensure resource for state medical regulators.
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education was awarded $25,000 to study the diverse mandatory opioid and/or pain management education requirements across state licensing boards and identify alignments and differences across the states, certifying boards, and the FDA. The goal is to provide recommendations for state licensing boards to standardize and simplify their mandatory requirements.
Federation of State Physician Health Programs
The Federation of State Physician Health Programs was awarded $10,000 to support its national survey of physician health programs across the U.S. and Canada on the scope of educational and support services offered.
Upcoming Grant Funding Projects
The Foundation is currently in development discussions to provide funding for a video about physician sexual misconduct that will educate physicians and physicians in training on appropriate physician-patient interactions, while raising general awareness in the public about this issue. Also recently approved is another round of funding to help state medical boards and other entities build their emergency preparedness response capabilities through the use of the Provider Bridge online health-professional mobilization platform or to use information technology (IT) to improve their operational efficiency. A total of $300,00 will be provided for these grants, with individual grants of up to $50,000 available — the largest in the Foundation’s history.
Educational Support
The Foundation supports education and leadership development by providing travel scholarships for medical regulators and health professionals. In 2023, the Foundation provided scholarships for attendance at the global conference of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) in Bali, Indonesia. Recipients in this photo are Christopher Palazola, JD, left, the Chief Operating Officer of the Texas Medical Board, and Nicole Krishnaswami, JD, right, Executive Director of the Oregon Medical Board. Ms. Krishnaswami was elected Chair-Elect of IAMRA during the conference, becoming the first IAMRA Chair-Elect from a U.S. state medical board. Standing at center is FSMB Foundation President Janelle A. Rhyne, MD, MACP.
