In the news: State medical boards not disciplining doctors

State agencies that license and discipline doctors in California and Florida are among those with the worst track records in protecting patients from seriously substandard care, according to an April 20 report from Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy group based in Washington, DC.

The group analyzed data released by the Federation of State Medical Boards on all actions taken against doctors in 2008. It included revocations, surrenders, suspensions, probations, and other restrictions ordered by all state medical boards based on the number of actions per 1,000 physicians.

The states with the worst discipline rates were Minnesota, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, Florida, California, and Georgia. The advocacy group singled out California and Florida because they have a large number of doctors, and said they should have taken far more disciplinary actions. The best states were Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Louisiana, Iowa, Colorado, and Maine.

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