The
California Medical Board is under siege. In a strongly worded article, Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times on 4/26/13 in an article entitled "Legislature Should Pull Plug On Inept Medical Board of California" urged Sacramento law makers to "sunset" the Board, fire the executive director and start fresh. Mr. Hilltzik has reported extensively on surgical centers, especially Lap Band surgery centers.
However, Mr. Hilltzik does not address where the funds will come for the investigations he recommends be initiated on their own without any patient or other complaints. There is an allegation that the accrediting agencies such as Joint Commission which regulates hospitals are in the pockets of the surgery centers. The article is inflammatory in my opinion and does not suggest how a "new" agency would operate or be funded. The Medical Board is self-funded from physician dues and fees.
As an attorney who represents physicians on a regular basis, I find the proposal of just starting over or turning the agency over to the Attorney General's Office to be simplistic. There are many tasks performed by the Medical Board of an administrative nature. When there are criminal investigations, those should be addressed on a case by case basis as to which agency should handle the criminal side of the investigation. Should it be the DEA, county District Attorney Offices, city attorney's offices and local law enforcement? Each case is different and requires different skills and resources. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is the one that issues physicians a certificate to prescribe medications, including Schedule II drugs.
I have seen the Board over the past 5 years become very aggressive where physicians did not document medical exams or demonstrate sufficient medical necessity when they prescribed pain medications. In one case I handled last year, the physican's state criminal case of prescribing to undercover officers was dismissed but the Board insisted on revocation of the license.
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