(a) For purposes of this Article the term ‘impairment’ is defined as the inability of a licensee to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety by reason of:

(1) mental illness; or

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(2) physical illness, or condition, including, but not limited to, those illnesses or conditions that would adversely effect cognitive, motor or perceptive skills; or

(3) habitual or excessive use or abuse of drugs, defined by law as controlled substances, of alcohol or of other substances that impair ability.

(b) The Board shall have available to it an impaired physician program approved by the Board and charged with the management of physicians who are in need of evaluation and treatment. Such programs may either be provided under the auspices of the Board, or through a formalized contract with an independent entity whose program meets the standards set by the Board.

(c) The Board shall be authorized, at its discretion, to require a licensee or applicant to submit to a mental or physical examination, or a chemical dependency evaluation conducted by an independent evaluator designated by the Board. The results of the examination or evaluation should be admissible in any hearing before the Board, despite any claim of privilege under a contrary rule or statute. Every person who receives a license to practice medicine, or who files an application for a license to practice medicine, shall be deemed to have given consent to submit to mental or physical examination or a chemical dependency evaluation, and to have waived all objections to the admissibility of the results in any hearing before the Board. If a licensee or applicant fails to submit to an examination or evaluation when properly directed to do so by the Board, unless failure was due to circumstances deemed to be beyond the licensee’s control, the Board shall be permitted to enter a final order upon proper notice, hearing and proof of refusal.

(d) If the Board finds, after examination and hearing, that a licensee is impaired, the Board is authorized to take one (1) or more of the following actions:

(1) direct the licensee to submit to care, counseling or treatment acceptable to the Board;

(2) suspend, limit or restrict the physician’s medical license for the duration of the impairment; and/or

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(3) revoke the physician’s medical license.

(e) Any licensee or applicant who is prohibited from practicing medicine under this provision shall, at reasonable intervals, be afforded an opportunity to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Board that he or she can resume or begin the practice of medicine with reasonable skill and safety. A license shall not be reinstated, however, without the payment of all applicable fees and the fulfillment of all requirements as if the applicant had not been prohibited.

(f) While all impaired physicians shall be reported to the Board in accordance with the mandatory reporting requirements of the Medical Practice Act, unidentified and unreported impaired physicians shall be encouraged to seek treatment. To this end the Board shall be authorized, at its discretion, to establish rules and regulations for the review and approval of a medically directed, Impaired Physician Program (‘IPP’). Those conducting a Board approved IPP treatment program shall be exempt from the mandatory reporting requirement relating to an impaired physician who is participating satisfactorily in the program, or their report shall be held in confidence and without action by the Board, unless or until the impaired physician ceases to participate satisfactorily in the program. The Board shall require that any impaired physician whose participation in an approved IPP is unsatisfactory shall be reported to the Board as soon as that determination is made. Participation in an approved IPP shall not protect an impaired physician from Board action resulting from a report of his or her impairment from another source. The Board shall be the final authority for approval of an IPP and shall be permitted to withdraw or deny its approval at its discretion.