Article archive / January 1, 2016
Originally published: . Volume 7, No. 1. Source pages: 3.
The state medical board published a new Rule to accompany Act 441 which passed in the 2015 legislative session. Act 441 addressed complaints by members of the Medical Society about the lack of clarity and fairness in the investigations at the state medical board.
Act 441 included requirements that the state medical board adopt rules for investigation of complaints that satisfy “minimum due process requirements of the Constitution of Louisiana and the Constitution of the United States…”
Revisions included notice of the investigation, time limits, information about informal settlements, and other topics. The changes also make it possible for board members to be involved in assessing whether complaints need to move into formal investigations. The new Rule takes the Executive Director out of any role as lead investigator.
The new Rule was published in the December 20 issue of the Louisiana Register and included scope, definitions, and complaint origination. “Preliminary review of a complaint shall be completed as promptly as possible within one-hundred and eighty days of receipt.”
“If the board determines by a majority vote of the members present and voting at a board meeting that a complaint warrants investigation it shall
instruct board staff to initiate a formal investigation. If the board determines that a complaint does not warrant investigation it shall be closed pursuant to §9709F.1. of this Chapter.”
The Rule sets out that formal investigations shall be completed in 36 months. Also, a list of informal and non-disciplinary solutions is listed. The Rule also makes clear that individuals may have legal representation at any point.
The December Rule did not include a section on financial impact, which had been included in the September “Notice of Intent.” In that version, a new position for investigations was to be created, with a cost of about $422,000 in 2016 and about $340,000 thereafter. The medical board is advertising for a
physician investigator, with a job posting on its website.
Spokesperson for the Louisiana State Medical Society, Ms. Jennifer Marusak, previously explained to the Times, “There were no limits, no structures, no definitions,” she
said. “A complaint of having a poor bedside manner could open up the door so that the investigators could go in and investigate everything in that physician’s office.” Marusak said, “Physicians fear speaking out.”
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