Working to increase public awareness of state medical boards; advocating to improve board responsiveness to patients/their families and the public, and to improve physician oversight, accountability and performance.

COMMITTEE:

• Medical Board Roundtable
• Leader: Carol Cronin

ACTIONS:

• John Oliver takes down medical boards; numerous PSAN members interviewed for background (March 2024)
• PSAN member Bob Oshel featured segment #4 of a WNYC podcast about dangerous doctors and the secrecy around them that puts patients at risk of harm (Oct 2023)
• PSAN member Lisa McGiffert featured in Portland OR’s KGW series, “Sick Medicine,” on failure of state medical boards to oversee physicians who caused patient harm (Oct 2023)
• Moving Towards More Transparent and Patient-Centered Medical Boards: A Medical Board Roundtable Policy Agenda, PSAN’s Medical Board Roundtable priorities for action (June 2023)
• PSAN and Texas Watch worked to pass Texas HB 1998, by Rep. Julie Johnson, to give the TX Medical Board more tools to oversee licensed doctors. Austin KXAN station was instrumental in exposing problems, including 50 doctors whose licenses were suspended in other states. (May 2023) See Texas Watch Patient Safety Page for more coverage of this and other efforts.
• Lori Nerbonne, PSAN member, op ed on the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office report on their investigation into the NH Board of Medicine’s practices in the Concord Monitor (May 2023). The April 2023 report can be found here.
• Lisa McGiffert, PSAN member, was interviewed on WOSU-Columbus OH regarding physician sexual misconduct. (Feb 2023)
• Video: PSAN report finds state medical boards lack important patient safety information on their physician profiles (2022)
• Testimony to the New Hampshire Joint Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services regarding the NH Board of Medicine by Lori Nerbonne/New England Patient Voices & PSAN. (Oct 2022)
• PSAN advocate, Lori Nerbonne/New England Patient Voices, opinion letter published on need for medical board reform in New Hampshire (Oct 2022)
• “Gaps in medical, legal systems may allow other ‘Dr. Deaths’ to practice, panelists say,” Association of Health Care Journalists panel with PSAN members Ware Wendell and Kay Van Wey (May 2022)
• State Medical Boards Fail to Communicate Clearly about Physician Sexual Misconduct (June 2022)
• Communicating about Physician Sexual Misconduct: How are State Medical Boards Doing? (June 2022)
  A report of the Patient Safety Action Network/Medical Board Roundtable and the Informed Patient Institute that highlights findings regarding state medical board transparency and education of the public and physicians about sexual misconduct.
• Looking for Doctor Information Online: A Survey and Ranking of State Medical and Osteopathic Board Websites in 2021 (Jan 2022)
  A report of the Patient Safety Action Network/Medical Board Roundtable and the Informed Patient Institute analyzing information available on state medical board websites.
• What is a State Medical Board PSAN-IPI (July 2021)
• ​The Consumer View: State Medical Boards (December 2019) Presentation to the Citizen Advocacy Center
• Columbus Dispatch Opinion: It’s More than Strauss: How to Fix a Broken System (Dec 2019)

RESOURCES:

• Bibliography on State Medical Board issues including reports, state and national newspaper articles and other items (2024)
• Patient/Public Engagement and Transparency in State Medical Board Practice (April 2018)
  Presentation to the Federation of State Medical Boards Meeting
• Top 10 Things Medical Boards Should  Do to be More Accessible to the Public (April 2018)
• Rationale and Criteria for Public Members on State Health Professional Boards ( Sept 2017)
  Information sent to all US Governors to consider in appointments process
• Seeking Doctor Information Online: A Survey and Ranking of State Medical and Osteopathic Board Websites in 2015 (March 2016)
  A report of Consumer Reports and the Informed Patient Institute

For more information about the Medical Board Roundtable, please contact Carol Cronin, Executive Director, Informed Patient Institute, c.cronin@comcast.net