(a) The Board may at its discretion, 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 are 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 enter a final order upon proper notice, hearing and proof of refusal.
(b) If the Board finds, after examination and hearing, that a licensee is impaired, it [sic] the Board may take one or any combination 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; or
(3) revoke the physician's medical license.
(c) Any licensee or applicant who is prohibited from practicing medicine under this section shall, at reasonable intervals, be afforded an opportunity to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Board that he 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.
(d) Impaired Physician Program. While all impaired physicians must be reported to the Board in accord with the mandatory reporting requirements of the Medical Practice Act, unidentified and unreported impaired physicians must be encouraged to seek treatment. To this end, the Board may, at its discretion, establish rules and regulations for the review and approval of a medically directed Impaired Physician Program (hereinafter IPP). Those conducting a Board-approved IPP treatment program are exempt from the mandatory reporting requirements relating to an impaired physician who is participating satisfactorily in the program, or the Board shall hold its report in confidence and without action, 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 be reported to the Board as soon as that determination is made. Participation in an approved IPP does not protect an impaired physician from Board action resulting from a report of the physician's impairment from another source. The Board shall be the final authority for approval of an IPP, shall conduct a review of its approved program(s) on a regular basis, and may withdraw or deny its approval at its discretion. The IPP shall be required to report to the Board information regarding any violation of the Medical Practice Act by an IPP participant even if the violation is unrelated to the individual's impairment.