The Challenges Facing Medical Regulation Across the Globe

In an environment of significant change in health care, the regulation of doctors is under more pressure than at any time in its history. Longstanding models of professional regulation are being challenged from many directions, in recognition that medicine and health care systems are increasingly complex. Reliance on an older, reactive regulatory model that largely responds only when something goes wrong is not sustainable in this new environment. Consumers are becoming better informed, more digitally engaged and more likely to raise concerns about their medical treatment. At the same time, the availability of data about physician performance and medical care is on the rise, and doctors are becoming increasingly mobile and likely to move from one jurisdiction to another. These factors create the need for medical regulators to create an intelligence-led and risk-based system that enables them to be more proactive, seeking to prevent harm before it occurs. The traditional view that all the regulator has to do is register the physician at the start of his or her career, and only intervene when he or she commits some transgression, is being challenged all over the world. A more realistic model is one in which regulators are committed to preventing harm, promoting and defending standards of good practice and seeking ongoing assurance that every physician is competent to practice safely and effectively.