This month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a legislation that strengthens oversight of docs by the state’s medical board — the identical board that dragged its ft a decade in the past in eradicating the license of neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, infamously often called “Dr. Loss of life.”
The board’s shortcomings within the Duntsch case had been extensively reported, however Texas lawmakers credited a subsequent investigation by KXAN Information in Austin with lastly spurring them to behave.
A type of lawmakers, state Sen. Bob Corridor, R-Edgewood, even went as far as to thank the TV journalists “for doing what we should always have been doing” in uncovering the board’s repeated failures to dam harmful physicians from working towards and informing the general public about docs with out-of-state disciplinary actions.
It’s a dramatic case of journalists holding well being care licensing our bodies accountable and sparking coverage adjustments after public officers fail to behave.
Different outstanding examples are a Los Angles Times’ exposé of the California nursing board’s delays in investigating complaints and a series by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealing that hundreds of physicians across the nation had been permitted to apply after committing sexual abuse.
“I believe we’ve seen repeatedly that medical boards will not be going to repair a few of their systemic issues except they’re introduced out into the open,” mentioned AHCJ board member Laura Beil, whose “Dr. Death” podcast about Duntch’s gross malpractice was among the many most downloaded podcasts of 2018.
Pushing for accountability
State legislatures make legal guidelines that govern how licensing boards function. However in response to a report published in 2021 by Public Citizen: “Disturbingly, there may be typically significantly extra oversight over state medical boards by the information media than by state legislatures.”
The patron advocacy group pointed to an absence of requirements for measuring board efficiency. Its personal evaluation confirmed an almost eightfold variation in how often boards self-discipline physicians.
By Public Citizen’s measure, Texas ranked pretty excessive amongst states in disciplining docs, at No. 11.
But KXAN’s investigation, “Still Practicing,” confirmed that Duntsch’s lackadaisical therapy by the state medical board was no aberration. Journalists Matt Grant and Dalton Huey documented widespread lack of public transparency in instances of downside physicians, together with at the least 49 whom the board reported as having clear data despite the fact that licensing actions had been taken towards them in different states.
The reporters sought solutions from lawmakers.
Grant mentioned he “despatched our reporting to dozens of lawmakers throughout the state, from each events, asking if that is an space they’d be keen to look into to attempt to repair.”
“I believe us pushing for accountability on a state stage helped give this difficulty traction,” he added.
Grant and Beil spoke concerning the persistent downside of unsafe docs at an AHCJ panel last year.
‘A serious advance’
The new law requires the Texas Medical Board to constantly question the Nationwide Practitioner Knowledge Financial institution, a confidential clearinghouse established by Congress, and promptly replace doctor data for the general public. Physicians who’ve had their licenses revoked elsewhere can not apply within the state, and candidates should bear fingerprinting and felony background checks. Mendacity on a license utility can be a Class A misdemeanor.
Public Citizen’s Well being Analysis Group Director Robert Steinbrook, M.D., mentioned the brand new legislation marks “a serious advance.”
“Generally, state medical boards don’t do job of defending sufferers from physicians who’ve been disciplined in different states, together with those that have had their licenses revoked,” Steinbrook mentioned.
As USA TODAY reported in 2018, state medical boards will not be required to question the Nationwide Practitioner Knowledge Financial institution, and many don’t. AHCJ additionally looked into this problem again in 2011.
Public Citizen has really helpful that boards routinely search for data within the knowledge financial institution, together with appointing extra non-physician members to boards and offering boards with ample assets. It endorsed closing malpractice settlement reporting loopholes and opening the Nationwide Practitioner Knowledge Financial institution to the general public.
‘Comparable points’ in each state
There’s extra work to be achieved to reveal the failures of licensing our bodies. Simply this month, Connecticut Public reported spotty disclosure of physician records in its state.
“I’m assured that comparable points can be uncovered to some extent in each state throughout the nation,” KXAN reporter Dalton Huey mentioned. However he added that there’s “nobody constant methodology to get the knowledge you want. Each state varies in how they publish/report disciplinary data.”
KXAN reporter Matt Grant had this recommendation for reporters: “Begin by asking your state medical board in the event that they do a ‘steady question’ of the Nationwide Practitioner Knowledge Financial institution for all physicians. How clear is your medical board in relation to making disciplinary actions public? Is it a one line sentence, or are you able to truly learn the data?”
And don’t neglect boards that license different medical professionals equivalent to chiropractors, dentists and nurses.
One other downside value highlighting is that some states have handed over licensing board appointment powers to commerce organizations that signify the very professionals who’re being regulated.
5 states permit doctor organizations to pick members of medical boards, in response to a report published in November 2022 by the Pacific Authorized Basis. It discovered comparable conflicts of curiosity with licensing our bodies for chiropractors, dentists, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists, therapists, physicians, podiatrists, psychologists and veterinarians.
Try AHCJ’s tip sheet on covering professional licensing boards.
