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FEDERATION OF STATE MEDICAL BOARDS (FSMB)

The Federation's Predecessor Organizations

National Confederation President, Dr. William Warren Potter (Photo from the U.S. National Library of Medicine)The origins of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) stretch back more than twenty years prior to its 1912 creation. In that year, two separate organizations representing state medical boards — the National Confederation of State Medical Examining and Licensing Boards and the American Confederation of Reciprocating Examining and Licensing Boards—merged to create the FSMB.

The National Confederation was the older of the two, established in 1890. Its vision called for creating uniform standards for both medical schools and medical licensing boards. Because of the Illinois State Board of Health's long interest and involvement in fostering high standards for medical education, their long-time chair Dr. John Rauch served as the National Confederation's first president until his death in 1894. Leadership then passed to New York's Dr. William Warren Potter who formalized the National Confederation through the creation of a constitution and by-laws for the organization. From his editor's desk at the Buffalo Medical Journal, Potter served as their primary spokesman for many years.

The National Confederation had three areas of focus: higher matriculation standards for medical education; a more robust medical education curriculum; and opening state board exams solely to graduates from legally registered schools. The National Confederation acknowledge the work of other groups such as the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to foster higher standards but stressed that only the licensing boards possessed the legal authority to set or enforce these standards for the benefit of the public and the profession. This was a significant issue as individual state boards were struggling to address two interconnected problems: the largely unregulated practice of medicine and the proliferation of substandard medical schools.

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Medical Licensure Prior to 1900

 

 

 

 

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