FSMB releases new report surveying digital credentials in healthcare

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has released a report entitled Healthcare and Digital Credentials Technical, Legal, and Regulatory Considerations. This report surveys and expands upon the FSMB experience applying digital technologies, such as blockchain and OpenBadges, in its efforts to alleviate administrative burdens and promote best practices that can be implemented by state medical boards and health care administrators who use the licensing and credentialing process in fulfilling their mission of protecting the public. The current process of credentialing requires physicians and other health care practitioners to provide state medical boards, hospitals and insurance companies documentation of education and training that is sent directly from the issuing institution or which has been verified independently by a third party. To assist physicians in this process, the FSMB operates the Federation Credentials Verification Service (FCVS), an NCQA-certified credentials verification platform, that is widely used by physicians and physician assistants seeking medical licensure and credentialing. Each year, FCVS is used in approximately 50% of medical licensing decisions made in the United States.