Fw: Public Citizen Ranks State Medical Board Performance in 2002

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From: " Congress Watchdog " <CONGRESSWATCHDOG@...>

Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 1:24 PM

Subject: Public Citizen Ranks State Medical Board Performance in 2002

> Mar. 27, 2003

>

> Public Citizen Ranks Performance of State Medical Boards in 2002

>

> WASHINGTON, D.C. - Using information from the Federation of State

> Medical Boards, Public Citizen has ranked the performance of the 50

> state medical boards and the District of Columbia based on the rate of

> serious disciplinary actions taken against doctors in 2002.

>

> State disciplinary rates varied widely. The 10 worst-performing boards

> were Hawaii (the lowest rate), Delaware, Wisconsin, Tennessee, South

> Carolina, land, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

> The 10 best-performing boards were Wyoming (the highest rate), North

> Dakota, Alaska, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Ohio, Colorado, Montana and

> Utah.

>

> Of the 15 states with the worst disciplinary records, six - land,

> Hawaii, Delaware, South Dakota, Minnesota and Washington - were also in

> the bottom 15 states in 2000 and 2001. Meanwhile, five of the top 10

> states - North Dakota, Alaska, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Ohio - were in the

> top 10 in 1999, 2000 and 2001. One state, Alaska, has been in the top 10

> for more than 10 years straight.

>

> Nationally, state boards took 2,864 actions against doctors, including

> license revocations, surrenders, suspensions and

> probations/restrictions. Physicians are typically disciplined for

> offenses such as negligence, incompetence, sexual misconduct and

> breaking criminal laws. Public Citizen calculated each state board's

> disciplinary rate per 1,000 physicians; the national rate was 3.56

> actions per 1,000 physicians, compared to 3.36 in 2002. The disciplinary

> rate for the top state was 11.1 times that of the lowest state.

>

> " This information raises serious questions about the extent to which

> patients in states with poorer records of serious doctor discipline are

> being protected from physicians who might well be barred from practice

> in states with boards that are doing a better job of disciplining

> physicians, " said Sidney Wolfe, M.D., director of Public Citizen's

> Health Research Group. " It is extremely likely that patients are being

> injured or killed more often in states with poor doctor disciplinary

> records than in states with consistent top performances. "

>

> Boards are more likely to do a better job at disciplining doctors if

> they have adequate funding and staffing, good leadership, independence

> from state medical societies, and the power to undertake significant

> investigations, Wolfe said. For a copy of the report, go to

> http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7234.

>

> ###

> Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization

> based in Washington, D.C.

>

>

>