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This CPPPH newsletter aims to keep readers abreast of current developements and relevant information about physician health and wellbeing in California.
All past issues of CPPPH newsletter are available from the CPPPH website: www.CPPPH.org.
Definitions
Wellness activities address quality of life and professional satisfaction for all physicians. Wellbeing activities provide resources for identifying, evaluating, referring, treating, and monitoring for physicians when addiction, mental health, behavioral issues, and the effects of aging are a concern.
Confidential Assistance Over the Phone
The Physicans’ and Dentists’ Confidential Assistance Line is a 24-hour phone service providing completely confidential doctor-to-doctor assistance for physicians experiencing substance use or mental health issues. Call:
- (650) 756-7787
(northern California)
- (213) 383-2691
(southern California)
Send Us Your Comments
We want to hear from you. Send comments to info@cppph.org.
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RCMA Physicians’ Confidential Helpline
Responding to the need expressed by members for a local resource that physicians in the community can rely on for confidential consultation when health and wellbeing are a concern, the Board of Riverside County Medical Association (RCMA) opened its Physicians’ Confidential Line.
Many readers of this newsletter know RCMA for its long standing annual Western States Regional Conference on Physicians’ Well-Being in Riverside. The 2020 conference will be on May 20th.
The announcement of the RCMA Physicians’ Confidential Helpline says that it “offers emotional support in a safe and confidential environment where you can share freely the challenges you’re facing without fear of repercussion.” It says, “Please call to talk with a local peer at 844-4DOCPRN (844) 436-2776″.
The RCMA announcement also includes information about the Physicians and Dentists Confidential Assistance Line operated by the California Medical Association and the California Dental Association.
MBC New Physician Health and Wellness Program Will Admit Residents
At its November 7-8 meeting, the Medical Board of California decided to allow physicians in training to be eligible to enter the new Physician Health and Wellness Program (PHWP).
The Board also made non-substantive streamlining changes to the regulations that will govern the program. They deleted language about the Uniform Standards that already exists in other regulations. There was no need for the same language to appear in two places. Now if changes are made to the Uniform Standards regulations by DCA’s Substance Abuse Coordinating Committee (SACC), the changes would automatically apply, by reference, to the PHWP regulations. (The legislation that
created the Uniform Standards (SB1441 2008) gave the SACC the authority to make changes.)
The remaining steps now: the MBC authorized its staff to submit the updated language to Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) for approval, then to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). OAL will publish the proposed regulations and announce the public comment period during which all interested parties can submit comments. Watch for this announcement.
Once these regulations are approved by all entities and filed with the Secretary of State, the MBC staff will seek bids from those applying to be the vendor to operate the PHWP.
Once the contract with the vendor is in place, MBC staff will draft another set of regulations to set the fees that participants in the new PHWP must pay.
Changes at the MBC and the DCA
The two departments of state government where the decisions and actions will create a Physician Health and Wellness Program for California — the Medical Board of California (MBC) and its parent, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) — are each getting new executive leadership.
Governor Gavin Newsom has announced his appointment of Kim Kirchmeyer, who was the Executive Director of the MBC until November, to be the Director of the DCA. The MBC has appointed Christine Lally as Interim Executive Director.
The announcement from Governor Newsom’s office gives this background about Ms. Kirchmeyer:
Kimberly Kirchmeyer, 50, of Sacramento, has been appointed director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Kirchmeyer has been executive director of the Medical Board of California since 2013, where she was deputy director from 2011 to 2013. She was deputy director of board and bureau relations at the Department of Consumer Affairs from 2009 to 2011 and deputy director at the Medical Board of California from 2005 to 2009, where she was a staff services manager from 2001 to 2005 and an associate governmental program analyst from 1999 to 2001.
This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $197,797. Kirchmeyer is a Republican.
Available from CPPPH
You can read all the past issues of CPPPH eNews HERE.
Five CPPPH guideline documents are available HERE.
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