Physicians face difficulty returning to practice

Physicians who take extended leaves have limited options to help bring them back up to speed to practice. Whether they take time off to raise children, care for family members, or return from retirement, physicians are often asked to prove they are competent to see patients again.

There are no nationwide standards or minimum requirements for physicians returning to practice and states’ requirements vary widely. According to Kaiser Health News, the Federation of State Medical Boards would like to see states develop a standard process.

There are also only a few programs nationwide that offer retraining for physicians and they can be timely and costly. However, retraining experienced physicians returning to practice can be less expensive than training brand new physicians from scratch, said Robert Steel, director of KSTAR physician programs at Texas A&M Health Science Center.

Source: USA Today