Helping State Medical Boards Effectively Protect Patients by Identifying and Promulgating Promising Practices and Essential Resources

This project builds off of a recent study by our team that examined 280 cases of egregious wrongdoing by physicians in medicine such as sexual abuse of patients, improper prescribing of controlled substances, and fraudulent unnecessary invasive procedures. There is considerable variability among state medical board (SMB) practices and resources and in terms of how they enable reporting, investigate accusations, and discipline physicians who have engaged in egregious wrongdoing. Our past project found that in some cases, the wrongdoing continued longer than necessary because SMBs did not efficiently remove the physicians from practice, or did not publicly report their disciplinary action, enabling physicians to relocate and continue offending. The goal of the current project is to identify and facilitate the implementation of best practices for SMBs when responding to egregious wrongdoing. In addition to identifying effective practices, we will identify barriers to implementing effective practices and obtaining needed resources. Both state legislators and SMBs will need to take action by updating policies and legislation regarding SMB practices for this reform to occur.

McIntosh, T., Pendo, E., Walsh, H., Baldwin, K., & DuBois, J. M. (2021). Protecting patients from egregious wrongdoing by physicians: Consensus recommendations from state medical board members and staff. Journal of Medical Regulation, 107(3), 5-18.

Pendo, E., McIntosh, T. J., Walsh, H. A., Baldwin, K., & DuBois, J. M. (2021). Protecting patients from physicians who inflict harm: New legal resources for state medical boards. Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law and Policy, 15(1).