STATE MEMBER BOARD BRIEFS

Arizona Medical Board Annual Report Shows Significant Growth in New MD Licenses

New medical licenses issued in Arizona have increased significantly, from 1,137 in fiscal year 2015 to 1,630 in fiscal year 2016, according to the 2016 Annual Report of the Arizona Medical Board.

The total number of medical licenses in the state now stands at 22,964, according to the Board, as compared to 22,432 in fiscal year 2015.

The Board also reported that the average number of days needed to approve a license decreased significantly, to 19 days per license, compared to 27 days per license in fiscal year 2015. The Board introduced an online initial license application portal in January 2016, a tool that has helped it simplify and expedite the licensure process for physicians.

In fiscal year 2016, the Board's Investigations Department processed a total of 1,432 complaints, a 14% decrease compared to fiscal year 2015, during which 1,638 complaints were opened. The Department ended the year with 598 open investigations.

During fiscal year 2016, the Board held a total of 39 meetings, in which 82 disciplinary actions were taken. Disciplinary actions during the year included 18 letters of reprimand, 19 probationary orders, and 13 license revocations or surrenders.

Source: Arizona Medical Board 2015–2016 Annual Report

Medical Board of California Releases Annual Report for 2015–16

The Medical Board of California has released its 2015–16 Annual Report, including statistics on licensing, discipline and fiscal operations.

According to the report, the Board received 7,763 applications for medical licenses during 2015–16, an increase of nearly 1,000 over 2014–15. It issued 6,317 new licenses, an increase of nearly 500 licenses over 2014–15. It renewed a total of 67,051. Overall, the state has 135,375 medical licenses in effect, with 23,776 of them issued to physicians with addresses outside the state. It also licensed 365 midwives, 572 polysomnographic technologists, and a variety of other allied health care professionals.

More than 30,000 physicians practice in Los Angeles County, followed by San Diego County (10,740), Orange County (10,154) and Santa Clara County (8,174).

The state received 8,679 complaints about physicians during the 2015–16. It opened 1,654 cases, an increase of nearly 300 cases over 2014–15. During the year, it received 14,247 inquiries from consumers. It revoked 39 licenses during the year, and an additional 80 licenses were surrendered.

The most common complaints were for gross negligence/incompetence (3,460), followed by unprofessional conduct (1,370).

Source: Medical Board of California 2015–16 Annual Report

Special Loan Repayment Program for PAs, APRNs Seeks to Increase Access in Rural Areas

The Georgia Board for Physician Workforce has announced that it will administer a new loan repayment program for physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (APRNs) who practice in rural areas. The purpose of the program is to grant service-cancelable loans of up to $10,000 to PAs and APRNs to repay outstanding medical education debt in return for medical practice in underserved, rural areas in Georgia. Contracts will be awarded for one year and will be renewable for a maximum of four years.

The GBPW already administers similar loan repayment programs for physicians and dentists who practice in rural, medically underserved areas.

Source: Georgia Composite Medical Board Newsletter, November 2016

Kentucky Board of Medicine Participates on Committee to Address E-Prescribing Errors

The Kentucky Board of Medicine (KBM) was represented on a committee convened by the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy recently to address the issue of errors in e-prescribing the state, which recently hit an all-time high, according to KBM.

The Board reported that common e-Prescribing errors in Kentucky include wrong drug, wrong/unclear directions, issuing two sets of directions, and day-supply to quantity mismatches. The result of these errors translates into lost productivity time for both prescribers and pharmacists, according to the Board, with 32% of errors taking anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to correct.

The committee, convened by the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy to prevent e-prescribing errors and ultimately decrease the rate of errors, issued a set of recommendations for Kentucky physicians, including:

• Use EHR messaging systems to resolve prescription errors in a timely manner.

• Contact your EHR system provider to activate a final check feature—also known as a summary screen—on all prescriptions, not just those for controlled substances.

• Retrain employees to use the electronic prescribing system in order to increase accuracy.

• Include diagnosis, height, and weight on each e-prescription for ease of pharmacist therapeutic and safety checks.

• Make suggestions to the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) about how to improve electronic prescribing at http://dms.ncpdp.org/

Source: Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure Newsletter, Fall 2016

Annual Report Summarizes Kentucky Licensure and Disciplinary Trends

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure recently released its 2016 Annual Report to the Governor, with licensure and disciplinary statistics for Fiscal Year 2016.

According to the report, the Board granted 1,037 new medical licenses during the fiscal year, along with 134 osteopathic licenses. The Board also issued 718 temporary permits to practice in the state, and 274 residency training licenses.

The Board certified 122 new physician assistants, bringing the total number of physician assistants in the state to 1,216. The Board also certified athletic trainers, surgical assistants and acupuncturists.

There are currently 11,359 physicians licensed to practice in Kentucky, according to the Board. This number includes 612 retired physicians. There are 1,216 physician assistants licensed to practice in the state.

During the fiscal year, the Board's Inquiry/Hearing panels met 12 times and reviewed 318 cases, which included 177 new grievances. Disciplinary proceedings were authorized in 110 cases. As a result of its review process, formal disciplinary action was initiated against 95 physicians' licenses, which included six licenses restricted, 16 suspended, six surrendered and one revoked.

Source: Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure 2016 Annual Report

New Guidelines on Electronic Medical Records Adopted for Maine Physicians

The Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine has issued new guidelines aimed at addressing complaints it has received about the use of copy-and-paste or copy-forward technology and the pre-population of clinical fields in electronic medical records in the state.

According to the Board, “routine use of these technologies without careful editing and updating can lead to outdated, inaccurate, or irrelevant information, and often does not show evidence for the clinician's medical decision making. Reflex use of this practice can also cause records to become overloaded with data that may cause other clinicians to miss critical information and ultimately result in medical errors.”

THE BOARD'S NEW GUIDELINES...STRESS THAT THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF CLINICAL DOCUMENTATION SHOULD BE TO SUPPORT PATENT CARE AND IMPROVE OUTCOMES.

The Board's new guidelines, “The Use of Copy and Paste Functions for Electronic Medical Records,” stress that the primary purpose of clinical documentation should be to support patent care and improve outcomes through enhanced communication and that the integrity of the data EMRs contain is of great significance.

The guidelines note that “EMRs have greatly improved medical record legibility and accessibility, but not necessarily their readability or accuracy. Of particular concern is the use of the copy and paste function (CPF). Although CPF has the potential to improve efficiency, it also poses potential risks to the integrity and accuracy of the medical record.”

The guidelines offer a range of suggestions to help clinicians avoid problems with CPF, including the need for editing and exercising care in the use of pre-population and duplicate entries. The guidelines note that clinicians using CPF or pre-populating data should do so “carefully and judiciously to create efficient and complete clinical notes that will enhance communication, while avoiding duplication of notes and the propagation of outdated information that does not reflect the current condition of the patient. Clinicians should ensure that information contained in EMR for each patient encounter is based on the actual information that was obtained or reviewed and the assessments that occurred at that visit.”

Source: Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine Newsletter, December 2016

NCMB gives preliminary nod to CDC opioid prescribing guidance

The North Carolina Medical Board has tentatively decided to adopt the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in place of its current opioid prescribing position statement.

In a statement, the Board said that it “recognizes that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, which was published in March 2016, reflects more current thinking than NCMB's Policy for the use of opiates for the treatment of pain, which was adopted in June 2014.”

The Board is expected to finalize its decision at its January Board meeting.

Source: North Carolina Medical Board Announcement, October 18, 2016