Baker will consider addiction awareness for board appointments
Awaiting legislative action on an approach to opiate addiction, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday he will use his power of appointing members to professional medical boards to push for change.
"I feel the health care community has been a little casual with respect to this stuff," Baker said in a joint appearance with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Nightside with Dan Rea.
Baker said that over the next few years he will make appointments to the Board of Registration in Medicine and boards overseeing dentists, nurses and other health care professionals.
"We're going to put people who have experience with addiction on all of those boards and start building continuing medical education programs around this stuff," Baker said. The board of medicine has seven members appointed by the governor to three-year terms, according to its website.
Baker has previously called for a greater emphasis in mandatory medical training and education on addiction and pain management. Walsh noted that drug addiction services had been a priority for him during his time in the House and paying a compliment he said that when Speaker Robert DeLeo was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee he was "unbelievable" on the issue.
"I believe the Legislature is with us all the way on this one," Baker said.
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