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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 23, 2003
 
MEDICAL BOARD WEBSITE NOW FEATURES INCREASED PHYSICIAN SEARCH CAPABILITIES
 

Scottsdale, Ariz. -- What do you do if you want to find an ophthalmologist or sports medicine physician in your city? Log on to the Arizona Medical Board’s website, www.azmdboard.org, and search for a physician by specialty and/or city or county. Beginning this week, millions of Arizona Medical Board website users can perform customized searches to find a specialist among over 10,000 licensed in-state physicians.

“The public has been asking for this option for years,” said Executive Director Barry A. Cassidy, Ph.D., P.A.-C. “It’s wonderful to have a technology team that can make it happen for them today.” By using Board’s existing technological resources, Cassidy added, this service was provided at no additional costs to the agency and required minimal staff time.

“By no means is this a referral service,” Cassidy stressed. The Arizona Medical Board maintains that this feature is simply a means to pull up the names every in-state licensed physician in the customized search. “From there, consumers can make an informed health care decision based on the information provided in the physician’s profile,” said Cassidy.

Users who want to access this feature should click on the “Doctor Query” tab on the left hand side of the screen. From there, they can conduct a traditional search by name or use the specialty search option. Queries of physicians by common specialties in large metropolitan areas will bring up a wider range of physicians than a smaller, more customized search. For example, a search for a family practice physician in Maricopa County will yield over 900 matches. A search for an OB/GYN in Chandler, however, will provide a much smaller match – 21 physicians. The search results will also provide a hyperlink to the physician’s profile, the city where the physician practices, and the physician’s license status.

The Arizona Medical Board is composed of eight physician members and four public members, including one licensed nurse. The Board is responsible for licensing and disciplining over 15,000 medical doctors in Arizona. For more information on the Board or to obtain information on a licensee, see the Board’s website at http://www.azmdboard.org.