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Surviving a Medical Board Review<
by: Mari Edlin
Just what you didn't need: an allegation of misconduct from your state medical board, which has the power to revoke your medical license, among other possible sanctions. Unfortunately, thousands are sent out every year by boards around the country, originating from patients, peers, hospitals, insurers, or directly from the state. No more than 20 percent of complaints go beyond an informal settlement conference. Still, the 70 medical boards in the United States and its territories took 6,265 disciplinary actions last year -- a 20 percent increase over 2003 -- according to the Federation of State Medical Boards. Some 88 percent of those actions directly affected physicians' licenses to practice medicine. How to keep in your medical board's good graces? Physician misconduct: boards' primary concern That's fair enough. But sometimes a complaint is unavoidable, even when the care you provided was good. So what do you do if it happens? "You have to remember it's not a civil case but a violation of the Medical Practice Act (which defines unprofessional conduct in each state)," adds Joan Jerzak, chief of enforcement for the California state medical board. "A physician either did something or he didn't. It is not an emotionally-driven case." As David Slawkowski, an attorney with the Chicago-based law firm of Anderson, Razor and Partners LLC says, "The process is not to punish physicians but to demonstrate compliance by licensed professionals." But not unlike the preparations for a malpractice case in civil court, responding to a medical board complaint demands detailed documentation, legal counsel, open communication and level-headedness, says Bill Spratt, a health lawyer with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP in Miami. "Most physicians are surprised when a complaint is filed," Spratt says. "If there are any adverse outcomes, they expect to hear directly from patients, their families, or an attorney first. "State board actions, though, are often prompted by allegations of professional misconduct, rather than a mere adverse medical outcome that so often triggers a malpractice lawsuit. With the boards, unconventional financial arrangements among physicians, sexual misconduct, unfair billing, and fraud can raise eyebrows, as can a pattern of questionable behavior. Failure to maintain patient records, falsifying information for a hospital reappointment application, prescribing drugs without conducting a patient exam, sexual abuse of patients, and gross medical inadequacy are some of the behaviors that, according to public records, are likely to result in board actions. Settlements run the gamut from license revocation or suspension, to supervision by a colleague and community service, to five years of probation. Taking precautions If you're like most physicians, you probably don't have any formal contingency plans should you be summoned by a state medical board; complaints from the state seem to come out of the blue. It never hurts to take some preventive measures that will stand you in good stead throughout your careers. Dale Austin, senior vice president and chief operating officer for the Federation of State Medical Boards in Dallas, says it's important to know how to pr< |
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