File a Complaint
COMPLAINT PROCESS
HOW DOES THE BOARD HANDLE A COMPLAINT?
If a patient has a complaint, they may call the Board, toll-free at 1-800-438-5784 to discuss the matter. However, prior to opening a docket and initiating an investigation, Board rules require a written complaint naming the physician and/or PA involved, the patient and a detailed narrative describing what happened and when. The complaint must be signed and include the complainant's address and telephone number.
The Board will not consider anonymous complaints.
The Board will not consider a complaint received via e-mail.
The Board does not usually involve itself in fee disputes.
When a person sends a complaint to the Board of Medicine, the President and Secretary of the Board review it within 30 days. This review, called screening, determines if the complaint falls within the Board's authority and should be investigated. When screening the complaint the President and Secretary of the Board assume that all of the allegations against the licensee are true and then look to see if the complained of actions fall within the Board's power to regulate.
Most complaints pass the initial screening and are then referred to other members of the Board, interviewers, for investigation. The Board believes that involvement of the non-physician members of the Board is critically important and therefore, the President and the Secretary generally appoint both a physician and non-physician as interviewers. The interviewers can take any steps they deem appropriate to investigate the allegations in the complaint, including reviewing records and charts, interviewing witnesses, deposing involved parties, subpoenaing documents etc. The interviewers also usually meet with the physician or PA against whom the complaint is lodged to get from him/her side of the story and assure themselves a full picture of the circumstances. Following this informal interview the interviewers then decide and recommend to the President and the Secretary of the Board if further proceedings are necessary, the matter should be settled, go to contested case hearing or be dismissed.
If the complaint proves true, the Board may take appropriate action including revocation of the physician's license to practice medicine, suspension or probation under monitoring, restriction of the scope of the practice, requiring additional training and/or testing, mental and/or physical competency examinations, the imposition of fines and any number of combinations of these sanctions appropriate under the circumstances of the case.