Grant Funding
Technology Improvement Grants Were Distributed Last Year at Record Levels
Over the last decade, the FSMB Foundation has provided more more than a million dollars in grant support for a wide range of research and education projects benefiting the medical regulatory community. The grants have supported research and education on topics of pressing importance to regulators, ranging from opioid misuse to physician burnout.
The Foundation assesses the environment for medical regulation in the United States annually to identify which topics it will prioritize as it distributes its grant funding.
Recognizing the growing importance of modernized technology to effective regulatory processes, the Foundation in 2024 created two new grant programs aimed at technological upgrades and innovations by state medical boards.
The end goal of the 2024 grants was to encourage improvements and new approaches to the technology systems boards use in licensing, discipline, and public outreach and communication.
Category 1 grants provided financial support for efforts by boards to improve their day-to-day processes through technology upgrades, aiming to shorten licensing times, improve processing of patient complaints, and facilitate communication with the public, all critical for effective board functioning.
Category 2 grants provided financial support for efforts by boards to improve their emergency preparedness through the use of the online Provider Bridge technical platform. The grants were aimed at helping boards better prepare, via digital technology, for the fast-growing incidence of climate-related emergencies and disasters in the United States — which often impact medical care. Provider Bridge enhances boards’ ability to ensure continuity of medical services during emergencies.
Several state medical and osteopathic boards received assistance through the grant program in 2024. Individual grants of up to $50,000 were made available, from a total fund of more than $384,000 allocated by the Foundation Board. Summaries of the grant projects are provided below.
The Foundation’s 2024 grants emphasized innovations in technology to benefit medical regulatory systems.
FSMB Foundation Funding
“The FSMB Foundation's grant support will make a significant impact on our efforts to digitize and modernize our operations — improving our ability to protect the public.”
Jonathan T. Osborne, Esq., Executive Director West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine
Our 2024 Technology Grant Recipients
GUAM BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS
The Guam Medical Board of Examiners received an emergency preparedness and response technical assistance grant to ensure it is able to maintain a comprehensive registry of health volunteers that can be accessed quickly to support preparedness and response to disasters and public health emergencies. Guam lies in the path of typhoons and it is common for the island to be threatened by tropical storms, impacting the availability of medical care.
MAINE BOARD OF LICENSURE IN MEDICINE
The Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine received a technology upgrade grant for funding to help create new educational videos for its licensees and the public. Since 2021, the board has developed professional quality educational video vignettes, which it posts on its website, to build awareness and understanding of its core services. The videos have been well received and utilized. The Foundation grant will make it possible for the board to add two new videos to its online educational offerings.
NEW MEXICO MEDICAL BOARD
The New Mexico Medical Board’s grant will be used to expedite, augment and inform the board’s current decision making processes by using data more effectively. Utilizing a database manager, the board will seek to use its data as a benchmark for delivering more timely and better informed decisions and to make its process more efficient and more resilient from the biases that can affect the expert-opinion model. It will also seek to better facilitate dissemination of disciplinary information.
OREGON MEDICAL BOARD
The Oregon Medical Board received a grant that will allow it to implement its Digitization and Modernization Project, which will expedite the license application process for physicians entering the state. At the core of the project is an Application Programming Interface, which will leverage data provided by the FSMB, reduce data entry for Oregon Medical Board staff, decrease the overall application timeline and ease the entry of new physicians into the state, bolstering its health workforce.
RHODE ISLAND BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE AND DISCIPLINE
The Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline will use its grant funding to implement the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact for physicians in Maine. The Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation in 2022 directing entrance into the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Preliminary steps have been taken, and the board must now develop the technology infrastructure to create and maintain IMLC process.
WEST VIRGINIA BOARD OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
The West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine’s technology grant will support its Digitization and Modernization Project. The board will partner with an outside vendor to scan, sort and categorize the board’s existing paper documents into a digitized format — advancing its efforts to create a paper-free workplace. The board began its modernization effort in 2023 with a significant upgrade of its website and the addition of a user portal.
Upcoming: Professional Boundaries Video to Debut in 2025
Professional-boundary issues — such as sexual misconduct by health care professionals — are among the most serious cases medical regulators respond to as they fulfill their mandate of protecting the public. The extent of professional boundary issues in the United States is difficult to determine, partly because of a lack of knowledge and awareness, as well as barriers that may inhibit reporting of such issues by both patients and health providers.
In response, the Foundation is nearing completion of an educational video that will provide information for physicians, physicians-in-training, and the public on the importance of professional boundaries and how they are maintained. The Foundation is working with its partners, the FSMB and the Administrators in Medicine (AIM) Foundation, on the project, expected to debut in early 2025.
The video explores three scenarios in which physician professional boundaries can become blurred: writing prescriptions for friends and family; pursuing an inappropriate romantic relationship with a patient's parent, guardian, or a third party; and conducting intimate examinations without clear communication and patient consent. Each of these scenarios highlight the importance of maintaining professionalism and ethical standards in all professional interactions.
In addition to a version of the video intended for the public, a version will also be made available that provides continuing medical education (CME) credit for health professionals. Foundation Board members Janelle Rhyne, MD, MACP; Patricia King, MD, PhD; and Stephanie Louka, JD played a major role in developing the script for the video.