Gordon Giddings, Jeremy Beach, and Fisayo Aruleba share research they conducted to ask, "Do Medical Licensing Questions on Health Conditions Pose a Barrier to Physicians Seeking Treatment?"  Their research focused on approaches to asking about physician health, sought evidence about whether those questions can act as a barrier to individuals seeking treatment, and explored how those barriers could be mitigated by asking question in a different way so as to reduce the stigma.  Hear some...

CLEAR's story is a story of connections, learning, and engagement. Join us as host Line Dempsey engages in a compelling dialogue with CLEAR's President, Marc Spector, and President-elect, Staci Mason, exploring their personal journeys within the CLEAR community. Reflecting on their experiences, they highlight the invaluable connections, learning opportunities, and engagement fostered through committee and board service. From the excitement of global networking to insights into effective...

A few years ago, we had a great conversation with Deanna Williams  where we discussed the big question of, What does it mean to be a good regulator? There’s not a better or more fundamental question to ask for our CLEAR audience. As the regulatory landscape evolves and we face different challenges in our roles, it’s great to go back to some of the fundamentals and keep those concepts top of mind. Good regulators should ask the question, Can we demonstrate that there's value in what we do?...

From new trends like artificial intelligence and banishing diversity, equity and inclusion requirements, to some familiar ones like workforce mobility and licensure compacts, panelists will discuss current legislative initiatives and policy trends happening nationwide that are impacting occupational licensure in 2024. Join us for the legislative rundown with John Bremer from Federation of State Medical Boards, Nicole Livanos from National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and Kelly Parker...

Jo Perini-Abbott and Addie Smith with the Oregon State Bar Alternatives to the Exam Task Force talk about the OSB's deliberative process to research alternatives to the traditional bar exam, including diploma privilege, an experiential law school pathway, and a supervised practice pathway. Hear about the requirements for the ultimately approved Supervised Practice Portfolio Examination (SPPE), its skill-focused method of assessment, and the potential impact on law schools and students. Jo and...

One role of regulators is to make appropriate dispositions that adequately address a licensee’s or registrant’s conduct of concern. Often regulators determine that remedial interventions are necessary or advisable. Catherine Caldicott, Medical Director of PBI Education, helps define "intensive remedial interventions," gives some reasons that licensed professionals might need intensive remedial interventions, and talks about how regulators can find courses and course providers and make sure...

This episode revisits a previous conversation about unconscious bias - what it means, how it can influence our decision-making, and what we can do to minimize its impact.  We also announce new DEI resources for CLEAR members. CLEAR’s DEI Definitions workgroup has developed definitions of key terms frequently used in discussions about DEI. The workgroup carefully considered a range of definitions for each term and is constantly refining and reflecting upon this work. CLEAR’s External Resources...

The 2023 CLEAR Awards were presented in Salt Lake City during CLEAR's Annual Educational Conference. Our podcast host had the chance to catch up with the recipients and hear about the cases and accomplishments they were nominated for. In this part 2 episode, hear from Jayde Fuller with the AHPRA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy Unit, recipient of the Regulatory Excellence Team Award, and Holly Childs and Jonathan Gordon with the Real Estate Council of Alberta, recipient...

The 2023 CLEAR Awards were presented in Salt Lake City during CLEAR's Annual Educational Conference.  Our podcast host had the chance to sit down with the recipients and hear about the cases and accomplishments they were nominated for. In this part 1 episode, hear from John Crumley, recipient of the Investigative Excellence Award for an Individual; Ginny Hanrahan, recipient of the Regulatory Excellence Award for an Individual; and Dean Benard, recipient of the Service Award for Lifetime...

Mukul Bakhshi with the Alliance for Ethical International Recruitment Practices for CGFNS International, Inc. shares information about the recently updated “Health Care Code for Ethical International Recruitment and Employment Practices.” He discusses the important balance of making sure people are treated fairly at the micro level while considering global macro level concerns about brain drain and healthcare infrastructure. He highlights the overall work to make the code more accessible and...

Get a sneak peek at the CLEAR conference plenary session, "Own Your Shift: Turn your season of change into your season of possibility." Tiffany Lanier, Change + Wellbeing Speaker and Founder of The Morning Shift Co., will share how to create meaningful impact in our lives, in our work, and in the world by pushing past the old paradigm of rise and grind and stepping into the new paradigm of what she calls "rise and shift." She talks about the mindset, tools, and resources that can help us be...

Alicia Plemmons with the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation shares new research her team conducted to explore the relationship between nurse practitioner full practice authority, nurse practitioner workforce diversity, and disparate primary care access.  They compared the ethnic and racial composition of different state populations to the nurse practitioner workforce in those states and considered whether removing requirements for collaboration contracts and allowing full...

Jennifer Best with Nova Scotia College of Nursing talks about some recent policy and process changes the College made to streamline their licensing process for applicants from other provinces and from seven international jurisdictions to bring more nurses into the health system in Nova Scotia. She shares how the College analyzed data from ten years of applicants related to curriculum, entry-level competencies, and exam success rates to confirm comparable preparation to Nova Scotia scope of...

Andrew LaFratte, Deputy Policy Director, shares an initiative that the Pennsylvania Department of State has developed to lessen the regulatory licensure burden for military veterans and spouses. Based on results from a veterans licensure survey they conducted, the Department recognized the need for better guidance on the transferability of military credentials and experience into occupational licensing requirements. The result - a Military Occupational Crosswalk to identify and relate...

Dan Hereth, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, shares his agency's journey with a multi-year, multi-phase technology initiative. He focuses on how enhancements to the technology used for online license applications and renewals has resulted in better service to the citizens of Wisconsin. New cloud-based technology enables applicants to sit in the drive's seat of their application process to submit the documentation and move it forward, while Department...

Jan Robinson, Bradley Chisholm, and Micah Matthews explore the concept of sandboxes for professional and occupational regulators.  What is a regulatory sandbox? It's important to think about it like a tool to relax legal and regulatory requirements to create a bit of safe space for experimenting. Experimentation is really necessary because we're working in complex systems, and so are those we regulate.  Regulatory sandboxes can help regulators contribute to needed agility in the regulatory...

Paul Leavoy, Managing Director - Regulatory Content and editor of Ascend magazine for Thentia, talks with CLEAR about regulatory news and current themes in professional licensing. He highlights how labor shortage issues are intertwined with licensing reform and license portability. He talks about some interesting interviews he's done with Dr. Marie Bismark about data trends in complaints and with NCSBN's David Benton about using technology and AI for complaints handling. He gives examples of...

Marcial Boo, chair of the new Institute of Regulation in the UK, joins us for this episode. Hear about the membership and goals of this new professional body for regulators in the UK. Marcial shares some of the challenges facing regulators in the UK, many of them similar to challenges faced by regulatory organizations around the world. Marcial hopes that CLEAR members and members of the Institute of Regulation "can make connections, interact over time, and benefit from the insight that we...

Carol Puchailo with the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba discusses the College's Inquiry to Audit (I2A) Project, an initiative the practice team took to critically think through their systems processes with a focus on improving communication. She discusses how the goal of quality assurance - always striving to get better - can also be applied to the college's own way of doing business, with a goal of improving communication to the public and to registrants. She discusses challenges of...

Lisa McGiffert with the Patient Safety Action network and Carol Cronin with the Informed Patient Institute share research and recommendations from their report, Communicating about Physician Sexual Misconduct: How are state medical boards doing?  They raise concerns about the ability to find information about physician sexual misconduct on state medical board websites.  They highlight websites that are doing well at indicating the seriousness of the issue, providing information for doctors...

During CLEAR's return to our in-person annual conference in Louisville, we were able to sit down with Board members to discuss the 2022-24 strategic plan and some of the exciting initiatives underway to support CLEAR members. The conversation centered on CLEAR's role in facilitating peer learning and connections and forwarding innovative thinking to support the regulator of tomorrow. Hear about CLEAR's strategic priorities around developing a mentorship model; exploring the concept of...

Katie Templeton, Chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards Ethics and Professionalism Committee, shares details on FSMB's full policy on "Professional Expectations Regarding Medical Misinformation and Disinformation." She shares that addressing misinformation shared by practitioners is not something new - it falls under the professional duty and ethical responsibilities to be honest and truthful in all patient interactions and when speaking.  She highlights the recommendations in the...

Get a sneak peek at another session from the upcoming Annual Educational Conference. Charla Burill with North Carolina Board of Dietitians and Nutrition and Pepin Tuma with Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics address the impact of constitutional free speech challenges to licensure of speaking professions. A lot of lawsuits recently in the US are drawing on the legal argument that states violate the free speech rights of unlicensed individuals by requiring that they meet minimum qualifications...

Get a sneak peek at some sessions from the upcoming Annual Educational Conference. Abby Migliore with Alabama Board of Nursing focuses on mental health and wellness in healthcare workers. She discusses the difference between mental health and mental wellness and shares statistics and survey responses about what healthcare workers are actually reporting about their own mental health. She talks about how increased stress, burnout, pandemic fatigue, and compassion fatigue pose a threat to the...