State Medical Boards Discipline More Docs in 2009

Each year, the Federation of State Medical Boards publishes the Summary of Board Actions, a compilation of disciplinary actions initiated by its 70 member medical boards. In addition to providing disciplinary data, the report includes information about the context in which each board operates, including standards of proof required when prosecuting cases and the health care professions regulated. This year's report includes disciplinary data for each board from 2005-09.

During 2009, state medical boards took 5,721 actions against physicians, an increase of 342 actions over 2008. The FSMB also provides Summary of Board Actions reports since 1990. Because states operate with different financial resources, levels of autonomy, legal constraints and staffing levels, the FSMB discourages using data from this report to compare or rank states. The Summary of Board Actions is most useful in tracking trends in physician discipline within each state over time.

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http://www.physiciansnews.com/2010/04/02/state-medical-boards-discipline-more-docs-in-2009/