Newswise — Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2017) – The Tri-Regulator Collaborative, which represents the governing boards of the three organizations representing the state boards that license physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and pharmacists – the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), and National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) – have drafted and approved two position statements that highlight the organizations’ shared commitment to protecting public health as well as the common issues faced by the three groups.
The “Tri-Regulator Collaborative Position Statement on Electronic Health Records” (EHRs) calls for improving interoperability and uniformity of use, declaring that the seamless transfer of this data is essential to the delivery of high-quality health care and to patient safety. The multiple systems that comprise today’s health care network provide little or no interoperability and present serious concerns for practitioners and regulators. The Collaborative is urging that steps be taken by all stakeholders to bring uniformity and interoperability to EHRs across all practice settings.
Practitioner wellness is a patient safety issue and is increasingly affecting practitioners in the medical, nursing, and pharmacy professions. In the “Tri-Regulator Collaborative Position Statement on Practitioner Wellness,” the Tri-Regulator Collaborative expresses its commitment to identifying and preventing practitioner burnout. Today, knowledge overload, numerous technology innovations, social media pressures, and a rapidly changing practice environment create numerous challenges. More needs to be done to provide practitioners with the wellness strategies and assistance they need to deal with the stress of these challenges, which often leads to practitioner burnout and/or unhealthy responses.
As organizations representing interrelated health care professional licensing and regulatory boards, the organizations of the Tri-Regulator Collaborative share a common mission of protecting the public and enhancing professionalism in health care. Recognizing the potential benefits to be gained by collaborating more closely to better protect public health, safety, and welfare, the Collaborative meets periodically to discuss issues of mutual concern, exchange ideas, and share resources to better protect patients and improve the quality of care.
It has also taken a strong position as an advocate for improvements in the nation’s efforts to collect workforce data about health care professionals. The Collaborative strongly supports a more robust national effort to compile evidence-based, comprehensive data and analysis of the health care workforce to ensure our ability to meet the growing needs of patients across the nation.
Together, these three organizations regulate more than 5 million health care professionals, significantly impacting national health policy. While each organization is autonomous, with its own constituent membership, common values about public protections through state-based licensure unite FSMB, NABP, and NCSBN for dialogue and consensus building.
About the organizations
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), www.fsmb.org, is a nonprofit organization representing all medical boards within the United States and its territories that license and discipline allopathic and osteopathic physicians and, in some jurisdictions, other health care professionals. It assists these state and territorial medical boards as they go about their mandate of protecting the public’s health, safety, and welfare. The FSMB leads by promoting excellence in medical practice, licensure, and regulation.
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), www.nabp.pharmacy, is an impartial professional organization that supports the state boards of pharmacy in creating uniform regulations to protect public health. Founded in 1904, NABP is the impartial professional organization that supports the state boards of pharmacy in protecting public health. NABP aims to ensure the public’s health and safety through its pharmacist license transfer and pharmacist competence assessment programs, as well as through its VIPPS, Vet-VIPPS, VAWD, and DMEPOS accreditation programs.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), www.ncsbn.org, is a not-for-profit organization whose members include the boards of nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and four US territories — American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands. There are also 16 associate members. Mission: NCSBN provides education, service, and research through collaborative leadership to promote evidence-based regulatory excellence for patient safety and public protection.
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