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After an Ohio licensed physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist or other licensed professional is identified by their respective Ohio licensing board as having or potentially having a chemical dependency problem, it is common for the the licensing board to require the licensee to abstain from using prohibited substances, submit to alcohol and/or drug screening and attend 12-step meetings. Those requirements are typically outlined in a Consent Agreement or an Adjudication Order. Unfortunately, even licensees who comply with the abstention, screening and meeting requirements can still run into trouble with their respective boards when problems arise with the technical and/or documentation components of those requirements. That resulting trouble can include: delaying the end of a license suspension; being moved from probationary license status to suspended license status; or having a license permanently revoked.

The serious nature of those outcomes for any licensee who depends upon his / her license in order to earn a living leads the license defense attorneys at Graff & McGovern to caution our clients (physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists or other licensed professionals) that they must attain 100 percent compliance with the abstention, screening and meeting requirements or otherwise be prepared to face the above referenced problems associated with failing. What follows are some simple, yet effective, tips for remaining in 100 percent compliance with the abstention, screening and meeting requirements often imposed by the State Medical Board of Ohio, Ohio State Dental Board, Ohio Board of Nursing, Ohio Board of Pharmacy and other Ohio licensing boards.

With respect to abstention, always know what you are putting on or in your body. It is essential to read labels and ask questions of those who prepared food or products that you plan to ingest or use. When in doubt, simply avoid consuming / using any food / product that you are not 100 percent sure is absent of all prohibited substances.

With respect to screening, most boards use a third party to administer a random collection process that requires a daily call in or log in to the third party’s system. To avoid failing to call in or log in, the licensee should get into the routine of calling in / logging in at the same time each day (preferably as early in the day as possible). As a back up, a few alarms set to go off during that window of time and/or a prominently displayed reminder can prove.

Sometimes, even when the licensee does call in / log in, the third party system does not capture the fact that the licensee did so. This can be caused by the licensee hanging up too soon during a call in. Therefore always be sure to listen to the entire message before hanging up. In addition, it is best to use a land line (instead of a cell phone) in order to avoid a call dropping before the system logs the call in.

As an added precaution, the licensee can call in / log in twice back to back. As a further added precaution for those using a cell phone or computer to call in / log in, the licensee can capture a screen shot of the recent call description (date / time / duration) or the the visual message displayed during the log in. The captured screen shot can then be emailed by the licensee from and to his or her own email address. That way, unless the message is deleted, it will remain available on the email provider’s server for access if needed.

For those occasions when the third party system prompts the licensee to produce a sample for analysis that day, it is important to have a list of 2-3 collection sites to visit; and to know the days and hours each location is open. Having that information available on the front end will prevent panic on the back end when the licensee is requested to test on a weekend / holiday or when the events of the day leave the licensee still needing to visit a collection site late in the evening.

With respect to meeting attendance, a common problem occurs when the licensee loses the attendance log (signed by the meeting leader) that was used to document the meeting attendance. To avoid the problems that will arise if one loses the only copy of attendance log needed to document a period of 12-step meeting attendance, many licensees make a copy of their attendance log after each meeting attended. However, even that does not fully address the problems that can occur if all hard copies are misplaced, stolen or destroyed. Therefore, the license defense attorneys at Graff & McGovern recommend that each time the attendance log is signed, a clear photo of the log should be promptly taken using a cell phone camera and then emailed by the licensee from and to his or her own email address. That way, unless the message is deleted, it will remain available on the email provider’s server for access if needed.

The bottom line is that licensees who are required to comply with abstention, screening and meeting requirements must strive and hopefully attain perfection. Doing so requires extreme diligence and a willingness to prepare in advance for anything that can and will go wrong.

If you have questions about best practices for complying with abstention, screening and meeting requirements, or if you have general questions about dealing with Ohio’s professional licensing boards (such as the State Medical Board of Ohio, Ohio State Dental Board, Ohio Board of Nursing or Ohio Board of Pharmacy), please do not hesitate to contact one of the Ohio license defense attorneys with Graff & McGovern. Jim McGovern can be reached at 614-228-5800, x2 or jmcgovern@grafflaw.com