Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation

Lori Dodson with the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission and Kevin Huff and Sean Pascal with the Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations Office of Investigations share their perspectives on regulating the medical marijuana industry. Ms. Dodson, with a relatively new commission, discusses some challenges and successes in building a regulatory agency from the ground up. The Colorado repres...

Jimi Bush and Sarah Chenvert with the Washington Medical Commission discuss a recent recidivism study undertaken to look for behavior patterns among licensees who have undergone more than one instance of discipline within a 10-year time frame. The study aimed to determine if the Medical Commission's corrective actions had effectively resulted in physicians and physician assistants changing their p...

We’re bringing you a special episode of the CLEAR podcast, talking about information and resources related to the COVID-19 emergency.  This is a challenging time for everyone as we respond to this global health emergency. CLEAR's president, Kym Ayscough, president-elect, Ginny Hanrahan, and executive director, Adam Parfitt, highlight some of the resources that CLEAR has put together and informatio...

Paula Lehane, a Ph. D. candidate at Dublin City University in Ireland with the Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice in Education, and author of a recent CLEAR Exam Review article, discusses some of the issues that regulatory organizations need to consider for candidates taking computer based tests. She discusses candidates' expectation of flexibility related to device diversity and...

Skip Braziel, Vice President – State Regulation and Legislation with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and David Cox, CEO of the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying introduce listeners to the newly-formed Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing.  ARPL is a group of organizations that represent highly-technical professions and the boards that reg...

Deanna Williams, President of Dundee Consulting and long-time CLEAR member, tackles the question, What does it mean to be a good regulator? She talks about being trustworthy and earning public confidence, putting public interest above all others, being genuine and authentic in explaining how our actions best serve and protect the public, and being adaptable on the front-end of change. She discusse...

Nick Lord and Kym Ayscough with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency discuss AHPRA's involvement as a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Health Workforce Regulation. They discuss the WHO's interest in regulation of the health workforce, the current state of health workforce regulation in the Asia-Pacific region, and the WHO member states' interest in the Collaborati...

Jimi Bush, director of quality and engagement with the Washington State Medical Commission, talks about making it millennial, focusing on professional regulation and the next generation. She notes some of the characteristics of millennials and Generation Z, the impact their preferences and behaviors are having on certain industries, and specifically the impact for regulated workforces. She shares...

Cynthia Abel with the College of Early Childhood Educators in Ontario talks about how regulators can use behavioral science (sometimes called behavioral insights, behavioral economics, or nudging) - the concept of taking what we know about people and what influences how they behave and make decisions and harnessing that knowledge in order to design services and processes that are better aligned to...

Ida Darragh, executive director of the North American Registry of Midwives and CLEAR board member, talks about the benefits to a state and the licensee when a national credential is used as an avenue to licensure for a profession, how the North American Registry of Midwives works with states that license certified professional midwives, practice in states that do not have a licensure process for C...

When healthcare professionals intentionally harm or kill patients in their care, it shatters the public trust in the healthcare system, healthcare professionals, and their regulators. Lara Kinkartz with Weirfoulds LLP, Christine Braithwaite with the Professional Standards Authority in the UK, and David Benton with National Council of State Boards of Nursing discuss the impacts of such cases, proce...

Mental health is a far-reaching issue in society and has numerous implications for professional regulation. Mark Pioro and Jenna Smith with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario and Dean Benard with Benard & Associates explore the issue of accommodating mental health in the regulatory investigations process. They discuss the relevance of mental health to the work of a front-line re...

The approach that regulators have taken regarding social media has evolved over the years, with more regulators conducting social media searches on applicants during the licensing process. Information found on social media can be used to aid an investigation, and the number of investigations that are centered on regulated professionals' misuse of social media has increased. How does this influence...

Sarah Wennik, content development manager with Pearson VUE and chair of CLEAR's Examination Resources and Advisory Committee, talks about what a content developer is; how their role differs from the role of a psychometrician; the skills needed to be a successful content developer; and examples of the tasks a content developer is responsible, working in partnership with psychometricians, subject ma...

Bill Brigman with Solutions for Information Design, Michael Behm with Stateside, and Sara Appel with the Multi-state Collaborative on Military Credit share updates on various programs, initiatives and legislation to aid service members in transitioning to civilian careers through credentialing and military credit opportunities. They discuss the COOL programs, recognition of equivalent military tra...

Elizabeth Witt, chief consultant and psychometrician with Witt Measurement Consulting, talks about what a subject matter expert (SME) is; the role of SMEs in job analysis, standard setting, and item writing; qualifications of an SME; SME recruitment; and communication with SMEs. She gives advice on how to ensure that SMEs are engaged and how to handle challenges involved in managing SMEs. Transcri...

Donna Mooney Haywood, retired manager of regulatory affairs at the North Carolina Board of Nursing, shares her perspective, gained from 30+ years of regulatory experience, about substance abuse by licensed healthcare practitioners. She discusses the higher standard to which licensees are held, her views on alternative to discipline programs, and the difference in approach to handling practitioners...

The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba undertook research on practice hours, or currency hours, to determine any correlation between practice hours and continuing competence. Deb Elias discusses the research methodology, the findings and interest in future collaborative research. This podcast episode is related to a CLEAR Resource Brief, "Establishing Evidence for Regulatory Policies: A Meth...

Douglas Bilton, Assistant Director of Standards and Policy with the Professional Standards Authority in the UK, shares current research interests at the PSA. He discusses PSA's goal of linking the academic world and the world of regulatory practice to encourage research that helps to establish professional regulation as an evidence-led area of public policy. Recent and current research topics incl...

Griffin Pritchard, public information specialist with the Alabama Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, provides some tips on finding opportunities to tell your agency story in a new way to your audience. He discusses targeting your message to different audiences, leveraging branded merchandise, communicating via social media, and developing strategies for boards with a...

Andrew Charnock, Chief Executive and Registrar at the Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand, looks at the factors that conform or restrict the governance scope and practice of regulation. He considers the questions of whether regulatory legislation is too cumbersome for regulation today and whether regulators should align their strategies around their country's major strategies, for example, h...

Myra Reddy, Government Affairs Director for the Professional Beauty Association, summarizes why the PBA supports requirements for occupational licensure in the beauty industry. She discusses PBA's support of reform efforts to promote consistency of requirements across state, and even county, lines; enhance mobility; increase externship and apprenticeship programs; and increase testing opportunitie...

The CLEAR Investigative Excellence Group Award recognizes a team that has demonstrated exceptional performance in a particular case, or has a history of excellent performance beyond what is expected or required, resulting in a direct and significant impact to the protection of the public or consumer interests. Investigators from the Colorado Division of Professions and Occupations share how they o...

In 2017, at least 5 states or US territories suffered natural disasters or public health emergencies. Disaster response is, at best, orchestrated chaos. This chaos is compounded by the hodgepodge approach to license portability in the United States. Ronne Hines, Division of Professions and Occupations, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, gives some examples related to the interplay of lice...

Policymakers and planners in all jurisdictions face complex challenges in assuring access to needed health care services. Evidence-based decisions require objective and comparable provider supply and distribution data. Licensing boards are in a unique position to help. An expert panel representing the US and Canada discusses the role of regulators in health workforce data collection. This podcast...