FSMB is committed to educating and informing the media, physicians, policymakers, and the public about the importance of medical regulation and the impactful work of state medical boards.
Over the past year, FSMB’s media relations team fielded frequent inquiries from U.S. and international news outlets seeking comment on topics such as telemedicine, physician sexual misconduct, licensing application question reform, license portability, and physician discipline. This direct engagement with reporters resulted in FSMB being mentioned in more than 2,300 print, online, and radio news stories.
FSMB’s communications team offered a wide range of media relations support to individual state medical boards in the past year. At the request of boards, FSMB provided guidance on tracking media mentions and website analytics, offering suggestions for email marketing platforms, and sharing best practices on social media engagement and interview preparation.
Media interest in the work of state medical boards continues to grow each year. In 2022, state medical boards were mentioned in more than 36,000 news articles, appearing in prominent publications such as The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, the Economist, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, USA Today, and many other medical and non-medical publications.
An Evolving Online Presence
The communications team is responsible for developing and evolving FSMB's digital presence to better serve the needs of member boards, customers, and the public. In 2022, FSMB developed a new website in support of the Opioid Regulatory Collaborative (ORC) and the group’s efforts to share resources and strategies to reduce opioid substance use disorder among the public and health care professionals. The website, curbopioidmisuse.org, hosts a wealth of federal, state, and organizational news, policies, and guidance dedicated to addressing the opioid crisis.
In addition to the ORC website, FSMB continues to make improvements to ProviderBridge.org, a platform dedicated to registering healthcare professionals for volunteering during national public health emergencies, as well as to DocInfo.org, a free online resource that provides professional background information on every licensed physician and PA in the United States. FSMB-managed websites received nearly 5.5 million pageviews in 2022.
FSMB eNews Keeps Regulators Informed
During 2022, FSMB distributed 100 issues of the twice-weekly FSMB eNews e-mail bulletin to more than 5,000 individuals in the medical regulatory community, government, and affiliated organizations with helpful information about FSMB events and initiatives, state medical board news, and relevant health care news.
Journal of Medical Regulation Embraces Change and Innovation
It was another year of change and innovation for the Journal of Medical Regulation (JMR). Published continuously since 1913 by FSMB, the quarterly, peer-reviewed journal examines interdisciplinary trends and topics of interest to the national and international community of medical regulators. Revisions to the FSMB bylaws in 2022 created a new structure to support JMR, establishing a seven-member Journal Oversight Committee (JOC) and modification of the former Editorial Committee into a nine-member Editorial Board.
The JOC interfaces directly with the JMR Editor-in-Chief and provides strategic guidance to JMR, as well as ensuring the editorial independence of the journal. The Editorial Board, which includes members drawn from the U.S. and international medical regulatory communities, is responsible for the peer-reviewed content published in JMR. Additionally, the panel of peer reviewers for the journal was significantly expanded to include more reviewers from across the healthcare continuum.
In 2022, JMR continued its growth into a robust online forum for scholarly research with enhancements to its website at JMRonline.org. Article accesses increased by 42% in 2022 to more than 30,000 accesses. JMR content accessed in 2022 was engaged with by users in 135 countries, which is a 6% increase over 2021. Another electronic vehicle – the JMR Podcasts series – continued to provide readers with insights on key medical regulatory and patient safety topics from JMR authors discussing their research.
As the boundaries separating the world’s healthcare systems are rapidly diminishing, the need for inter-connectedness in the world’s medical regulatory community continues to grow. In response to this trend, JMR continues to seek ways to increase submissions from authors based outside the United States and explore ways to expand international readership.
With outstanding new leadership and a new support structure in place, JMR is well-positioned to build upon its long history as the primary scholarly publication through which the medical regulatory community disseminates new knowledge and shares best practices about physician licensure and discipline.
New JMR Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor
The Journal Oversight Committee selected Mark Bechtel, MD, as the new Editor-in-Chief of JMR. Dr. Bechtel brings extensive experience in medical regulation, education, scholarly publishing, and medical practice to his new role.
Dr. Bechtel has served as president, secretary, and supervising member of the State Medical Board of Ohio. A practicing dermatologist, he educates medical students as professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Bechtel has served on the editorial boards of four leading health care journals, including JMR. He completed his MD at Indiana University. Dr. Bechtel assumed his new role on May 1, 2023; he replaced Heidi Koenig, MD, who had served in the role since 2016.
Kelly Hadsell assumed the role of JMR’s Managing Editor in 2022, with oversight over JMR’s day-to-day operational activities. A seasoned editor with extensive experience in scientific and scholarly publishing, Ms. Hadsell has expertise in the peer review process, editorial operations, publishing ethics, and best practices, including extensive involvement in content development and strategy.