Physician Health Programs Need Reform, according to the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Although Physicians Health Programs (PHPs) are purportedly for helping impaired physicians recover and return to practice, the only thing that may be missing from the prison-like atmosphere is the orange jumpsuit, writes Lawrence Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D., in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. The physician inmate is forced to pay for excessive and unwarranted testing and prolonged expensive treatments for false diagnoses, while not being able to work and earn a living.

The serious flaws in the PHP system are largely unknown to most physicians and not considered relevant. After all, they are not alcoholics, drug abusers, or sex addicts, and they assume the system will never affect them, Dr. Huntoon states.

In today’s third-party payment system, false diagnoses have become widespread and commonplace, he states. Physicians have no ability to contest the diagnoses or recommended treatments. They may agree to accept the plan because they are threatened with revocation of their license. If they challenge a determination that they are addicted or mentally ill, they are assumed to be “in denial,” he explains. 

False diagnoses are all too commonly based solely on the finding of low-level alcohol metabolites, as from using hand sanitizers, alcohol-based mouthwash, or asthma inhalers with ethanol propellants, he notes.

Diagnoses by PHPs are often at marked variance with independent physician assessments, Dr. Huntoon states. Conflicts of interest and profiteering appear to be pervasive in a “profits first” model.

Dr. Huntoon reviews findings of an audit of the North Carolina PHP over a 10-year period ending in 2012, which documented many abuses. A follow-up audit showed significant improvements. Reforms that other programs should consider include: implementation of independent and objective due-process; procedures to eliminate conflicts of interest; systematic monitoring of treatment centers; and identification of in-state options.

Dr. Huntoon concludes: “Unless and until necessary reforms are implemented, PHPs…should be referred to using a more accurate and appropriate name— Genuinely Unethical Lifedraining Agencies of Abuse and Greed (GULAG).

The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.com