In the news: Colorado physician's license called into question

It seems a given that any physician needs a license to practice in each state in which he or sees patients, but apparently some are slipping under the radar. Dr. Talat Khan, a Denver-based pediatric pulmonologist, had been seeing patients Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gillette, WY for a year before anyone noticed that she didn’t have a license to practice in Wyoming, according to GilletteNewsRecord.com.

Granted, Wyoming state law allows consulting physicians who visit the state once to provide clinical expertise to not go through the trouble of applying for a state license. However, Khan saw patients at Campbell County Memorial Hospital regularly.

HealthONE, with which Khan had signed a volunteer contract, will now conduct an internal audit of its affiliated physicians to ensure each and every medical license is up to date. Campbell County Memorial Hospital will also put processes in place to verify physician licensure, since it, too, failed to pick up on the problem.

For more information about medical licenses, check out “Evolving physician practices create challenges for state licensing boards,” which appeared in the June issue of Medical Staff Briefing.