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Scottsdale,
Ariz. – The Federation of State Medical
Boards (FSMB) released its annual ranking of medical
board rankings this week and placed the Arizona Medical
Board (Board) among its top disciplinarians. The Board’s
4th place finish among all medical boards represents
the total number of Board actions taken over the last
calendar year, the same slot in which Arizona placed
last year, and represents a top ten rating in the
last four consecutive years. When compared to states
with a similar population to Arizona, the Board placed
second.
State
disciplinary rankings are based on a composite action
index (CAI) score derived from a weighted average
of Board prejudicial and non-prejudicial actions,
based on the total number of licensed physicians and
those physicians practicing in the state. Arizona
had a CAI of 11.85, up from 10.98 points from last
year.
“This
ranking brings national attention to one of the Board’s
most visible functions,” said Executive Director
Barry A. Cassidy, Ph.D., P.A.-C. “Continual
improvements in the Board’s investigative processes,
adequate funding for Attorney General litigators,
and support from the agency’s internal systems
such as information technology, licensing, and business
operations all contribute to the Board’s success.”
“Of
greater importance to the public,” added Cassidy
“is access to physician information, including
Board actions.” The Board has been consistently
recognized for the accessibility of its actions on
its website, www.azmdboard.org. In addition to a Recent
Board Action page and individual physician profiles,
the Board also offers a searchable database of physicians
by specialty and location.
Additionally,
the Board added an on-line complaint filing system
this year that allows consumers to enter complaint
information on-line and track the complaint through
the various steps of the investigative process. The
system is the only one of its kind in the nation and
it has quickly become a source of interest to other
medical boards and Arizona State agencies. To date,
over a tenth of all complaints received by the Board
are received through this on-line process.
The
FSMB report is one of two nationally publicized reports
released annually. Results of the FSMB rankings are
forwarded to the Public Citizen Health Research Group
in Washington, D.C. Public Citizen will focus its
study on “serious” disciplinary actions,
such as license revocations, practice restrictions
and probationary orders and issue its own set of disciplinary
rankings later this week.
For
more information on the Federation of State Medical
Boards, go to www.fsmb.org
or contact Drew Carlson, Director of Communications
at (817) 868-4043. |