Eliminate Mental Health Questions on Applications for Medical Licensure

The 2010s saw “an unusual number of public calls to change privacy rules to permit or require greater disclosure of individuals’ mental health information…. Typically, safety concerns are invoked.”1 Though some states have removed bar and medical licensure application questions requiring disclosure of applicants’ mental health information,2-3 “the majority [of state medical boards continue to] ask questions that are unlikely to meet [Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)] standards.”2 Recently amended questions still unfairly single out applicants with physical or mental health illness or conditions without appropriate justification, and they should be removed from applications for medical licensure.