For the first time in 25 years, Anita M. Steinbergh, DO, might take a vacation day on the second Wednesday of the month. Then again, maybe not.
“I have thoughts about developing a longitudinal program, adding years two, three, four, and really making an impact as they mature toward residency training,” says Steinbergh about the medical board’s Partners in Professionalism program for medical students.
Although her mission to educate young physicians continues as assistant dean at Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Dublin, Dr. Steinbergh retired from the State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO) this spring. After more than 250 monthly meetings, she knew the time was right.
“The board has very dedicated members committed to its mission of public protection and supports the values of the governor.” - Dr. Anita M. Steinbergh
Serving as a board member was not a career goal. In fact, it was not something she had even considered during the first chapter of her career.
“Like any other physician, I knew very little about the medical board. I sent in my fee and I was licensed,” says Steinbergh. “I had no knowledge about the board. Then, after some very preliminary conversations with Gov. Voinovich’s office, I received a call on July 8, 1993, congratulating me on my appointment to the board.”
Although sudden, the appointment wasn’t out of step with her past leadership. In addition to her family medicine practice, Steinbergh had also been active with the Ohio Osteopathic Association and leadership service at Mount Carmel Health System.
“Though I didn’t have this vision of public service, the longer I was on the board, the more I realized how right it was for me,” says Steinbergh.
“It seemed to fit into the picture of who I was and how I was expressing myself in my career.” - Dr. Anita M. Steinbergh
Fellow board members, staff and licensees are all thankful for that commitment as the workload for board members can be daunting. Steinbergh recalls the enormous boxes of patient charts, files and case information that showed up at her home before that very first meeting.
“At that time, we received all the files in paper format – all the records,” says Steinbergh.
Even with very little orientation, she dove into the work. Steinbergh also became involved at the national level through the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) where she learned more about the duties, processes and important role of regulatory boards.
“I listened to everything everyone told me; I was like a sponge,” she says.
Over the years there have been cases which kept Steinbergh up at night “because they were just so egregious.” But other times, she has lost sleep because but “it’s so hard to pass judgement on people.” No matter the case, Steinbergh says she always did what she felt was right for the patients the board protects and attempted to be fair to licensees.
“It is quite a privilege and there are not too many physicians in the state who have this great opportunity.” - Steinbergh
Early in her career, Steinbergh did some locum tenens medical practice around Ohio, and she began to realize there were physicians she would not emulate, and some that practiced very similarly to herself.
“I feel this helped me have a very strong sense of right and wrong,” Steinbergh says. “One of my very first cases at the board, the hearing examiner recommended permanent revocation of the license of a physician who was just two years out of residency. I thought this just isn’t right – there are ways we can teach this young man. I knew I was going to have to speak up, because I felt revocation was not going to be an appropriate action. I was strong in my belief that although he had committed an infraction, this person didn’t deserve to lose his license. We ended up issuing a suspension, he completed educational courses on probation and he never came back in front of the board. Our intervention forever positively affected his life.”
Before the board takes action, every licensee has a right to due process. Steinbergh says board members learn to vote based on the evidence presented. Although members bring experience to the board, they must override any biases and vote on the hearing examiner’s record. Those experiences do play an important role, however, as board members can learn a tremendous amount from each other.
“We enjoy a good deal of diversity with board members as each has been influenced by their specialty training, geographic location and different hospital systems. We also have three public, non-physician members who strongly influence the decisions of the board,” says Steinbergh. “They all bring thoughtful perspectives on how to protect the public. Each board member’s thoughts and experiences influenced me.”
Throughout her 25 years as a board member, Steinbergh has served with 49 other board members, reviewed more than 4,000 cases and shepherded a dozen classes of medical students through the Partners in Professionalism program. She served on and chaired committees at both the state and national level including the SMBO Physician Assistant/Scope of Practice Committee, SMBO Compliance Committee, FSMB Education Committee, FSMB Bylaws Committee and the FSMB Special Committee on Managed Care.
“Serving as a member meant I had a responsibility to work hard on these committees." - Dr. Anita M. Steinbergh
As for that vacation day: The State Medical Board of Ohio met without Dr. Steinbergh as a member for the first time in 25 years the second Wednesday in May. However, she was not to be found on a beach. She was back in a hospital classroom, teaching, sharing her knowledge and experiences, inspiring the next generation of physicians to continue the mission of patient advocacy, medical ethics and compassionate care.
“I am honored to have been able to serve my profession this way,” says Steinbergh. “It is quite a privilege and there are not too many physicians in the state who have this great opportunity.”
Tessie Pollock is a director of communication at The State Medical Board of Ohio. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
