California Medical Board Under Fire For Failure to Discipline Doctors

This is important as the information produced from medical boards is used by online MD ratings sites, which have their own issues with flawed information but this makes it worse.  As noted in the Times article, the

This is important as the information produced from medical boards is used by online MD ratings sites, which have their own issues with flawed information but this makes it worse.  As noted in the Times article, the board is supported by licensing fees and money is borrowed from other state agencies to fill shortages elsewhere so you wonder if this is having any impact on staffing, etc. to completely function as the entity they were designed to be? 

HealthGrades ‘Best Hospital’ List Algorithm Needs Work Again – Flawed Data

Some of the questions that arise center around hospitals that have disciplined doctors, which is usually a pretty serious situation for this to occur, why does the board not follow up on such?  One case in particular is Dr. Justice who has twice defrauded Medicare and now has a diagnosis of co-dependency?  Granted his practice of medicine and his “billing addiction” were two different areas but if he were not a well known oncologist in Orange County, would he have existed this long before his license was revoked.  He has been convicted and no word yet on his license, which this looks like a clear cut administrative issue since all the cards on on the table here.  BD 

Orange County Oncologist Gets Sentenced to 18 months Prison – Diagnosed With “Co-Dependency”- Couldn’t Stop Fraudulently Billing Medicare

California’s medical board failed to discipline 710 troubled doctors even as they were disciplined by hospitals, surgical centers and other healthcare organizations in the state, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Public Citizen was based on an analysis of doctors’ records in the National Practitioner Data Bank from 1990 to 2009. The Department of Health & Human Services uses the data bank to track doctors’ discipline, medical malpractice payments and other actions. The data released to Public Citizen did not name the doctors or their workplaces.
Of the doctors who escaped state discipline in California, 35% had racked up more than one disciplinary action from another entity, according to the report.

It took board investigators more than 400 days on average to complete an investigation, according to the board’s most recent annual report. State law mandates that the board take no more than 180 days.
“The board at one time was one of the better ones in the country. They’ve slipped down and down,” Wolfe said.

Troubled California doctors going undisciplined by state – latimes.com