(a) “assessment program” means a formal system to evaluate a physician's competence within the scope of professional physician practice.
(b) “competence” means possessing the requisite abilities and qualities (cognitive, non-cognitive, and communicative) to perform effectively in the scope of professional physician practice while adhering to professional ethical standards.
(c) “dyscompetence” means failing to maintain acceptable standards of one or more areas of professional physician practice.
(d) “impairment” means the inability of a licensee to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety by reason of:
(1) mental illness;
(2) physical illness or condition, including, but not limited to, those illnesses or conditions that would adversely affect 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.
(e) “incompetence” means lacking the requisite abilities and qualities, cognitive, non-cognitive, and communicative, to perform effectively in the scope of professional physician practice.
(f) “license” means any license, certificate or other practice authorization granted by the Virgin Islands Board of Medical Examiners pursuant to this or any other applicable statute.
(g) “licensee” means the holder of any license, certificate or other practice authorization granted by the Virgin Islands Board of Medical Examiners.
(h) “practice of medicine” means:
(1) advertising, holding out to the public or representing in any manner that one is authorized to practice medicine in the jurisdiction;
(2) offering or undertaking to prescribe, order, give or administer any drug or medicine for the use of any other person;
(3) offering or undertaking to prevent or to diagnose, correct and/or treat in any manner or by any means, methods, or devices any disease, illness, pain, wound, fracture, infirmity, defect or abnormal physical or mental condition of any person, including the management of pregnancy and parturition;
(4) offering or undertaking to perform any surgical operation upon any person;
(5) rendering a written or otherwise documented medical opinion concerning the diagnosis or treatment of a patient or the actual rendering of treatment to a patient within a state or territory by a physician located outside the state or territory as a result of transmission of individual patient data by electronic or other means from within a state/territory to such physician or his or her agent;
(6) rendering a determination of medical necessity or a decision affecting the diagnosis and/or treatment of a patient; and
(7) using the designation Doctor, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathy, Physician, Surgeon, Dr., M.D., D.O. or any combination thereof in the conduct of any occupation or profession pertaining to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of human disease or condition unless such a designation additionally contains the description of another branch of the healing arts for which one holds a valid license in the jurisdiction.
For the purpose of this chapter, the practice of medicine is determined to occur where the patient is located in order that the full resources of the territory are available for the protection of that patient.(i) “remediation” means the process whereby deficiencies in physician performance identified through an assessment program are corrected, resulting in an acceptable state of physician competence.
(j) “statute” means this statute or any other statute applicable to the Virgin Islands Board of Medical Examiners.