As of Sept. 1, 34 licensure boards and 375 hospitals have verified their licensing or credentialing applications are free of stigmatizing language and intrusive mental health questions, according to ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare, a national coalition led by the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation.
The coalition's Wellbeing First Champion Challenge is a collective effort to prevent suicide and better support health workers' mental health. Its program helps hospitals and licensure boards evaluate their applications to find and remove any stigmatizing questions that could create barriers to mental healthcare for healthcare workers.
"The importance of removing these barriers cannot be overstated," Corey Feist, co-founder and CEO of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation, said in the Sept. 25 news release. "By eliminating stigmatizing mental health questions from licensing and credentialing processes, we are taking a crucial step toward ensuring that all health workers can seek the care they may need without fear."
In the last year, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia medical boards have evaluated their licensing language and for the first time, one state dental board and four state nursing boards joined the program.
Since last year, there has been a 400% increase in hospitals using the program, going from 75 last year to 375 this year.
"The actions taken now help pave the way for a healthier, safer and more productive physician and healthcare professional workforce." Bruce Scott, MD, president of the AMA, said in the release. "We urge all states, hospitals, health systems, liability carriers and others to join us in this important effort."