Another Area in Need of Reform: State Pharmacy, Medical and Veterinary Boards need to increase access to disciplinary information and make it more readily available.
How does someone know if a pharmacy, veterinarian or doctor has been disciplined? This is not an easy task. If, for example, a pharmacy has been discplined by the FDA for a compounding issue, a warning letter will have been issued. The warning letters are available on the FDA website.
But how does one find out if that pharmacy has been disciplined in one of the 50 states? Each state has its own disciplinary process and procedures and each has its own laws regarding whether this information has to be made available to the public. For example, inn Michigan, the Michigan Public Health Code, P.A. 368 of 1978, as Amended, mandated that the Department of Consumer & Industry Services is required to publish the names and addresses of disciplined individuals.
In Texas, the April 2004 Sunset Commission recommendation that the Texas board should post information about disciplinary orders and sanctions on its web site in a format that consumers can easily access. The Texas Veterimarian Board of Medical Examiners publishes an alphabetical list of disciplinary actions dating back to 1970. Included are the name of the practitioner, date of action, violation, summary and sanction. Click here. Other states, such as Oklahoma publish disciplinary actions on their web sites - either as disciplinary lists, in Board Minutes, or as licensee lookup by name.
Those, like Texas, that publish a compiled list rather than look-up by name or scattered among years of archived news letters or board minutes make this information most easily accessible to the public.Accurate licensing AND disciplinary information should be easily available to the public. Disclosing license status (i.e., "active license") is inadequate and may be misleading. MANY ACTIVELY LICENSED VETERINARIANS HAVE HISTORIES OF SERIOUS COMPLAINTS AND DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS AND MAY EVEN BE UNDER CURRENT SANCTIONS.
Source: http://www.usvet2005.com/pdf/107.pdf
Until AAVSB finished compiling the national disciplinary database in late 1994, there was no simple way for officials of one state to tell whether a vet who applied for licensing there had been disciplined by another state or even had his license revoked. In 1997 it was reported that while all 50 states participated voluntarily, it was up to each state to determine how many years of historical data to include. Charlotte Ronan, Executive Director of AAVSB, estimated that a quarter of the states provided fewer than five years of records for the database.
Source: http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?Story=tenthings-may97
Between October 2002 and May 2003, the AAVSB received disciplinary reports from only about 29 jurisdictions. North Carolina was not one of them although the NCVMB had previously reported discipline to AAVSB. From the June 18, 2003 NCVMB Minutes, "Dr. Gordon [Board member Joseph K. Gordon, DVM] discussed with the Board the reporting of disciplinary actions to the American Association of Veterinary State Boards' (AAVSB). disciplinary database. Following the report from the Executive Director [Thomas M. Mickey] Dr. Marshall [Board member David T. Marshall] made a motion to not participate in the National Disciplinary Database until such time that the administrative issues within the office of the AAVSB are resolved. Dr. Lewis [Board member Amy J. Lewis, DVM] seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously."
Sources: http://www.aasvb,org; Information obtained from AAVSB Program Administrator May 5-6, 2003; Minutes of the NCVMB June 2003 - November 2007
The August 5, 2009 Minutes of the North Carolina Veterinary Board state: "The Board discussed the history of the Board's relationship with the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AASVB). Mr. Mickey [Thomas M. Mickey, Executive Director] reviewed recent administrative and other changes intended to improve the efficiency and accountability of AAVSB staff operations. The Board determined that is should confirm whether AAVSB had established sufficient security measures for confidential information and correct operational issues so as to justify this Board's resuming active participation in AAVSB. Following discussion, upon motion of Mrs. Robinson [Board member Nancy K. Robinson, RVT], seconded by Dr. Davidson [Board member Michael G. Davidson, DVM], the Board unanimously voted to authorize the necessary expenses for Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Mickey to travel to the AAVSB headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri to investigate administrative and staff changes and to report back to the Board."
Source: Minutes of the NCVMB November 5, 2009
The accuracy and validity of the AAVSB national discipline database as a resource to all State Boards is dependent upon ALL state members reporting disciplinary actions - censures, reprimands, fines, suspensions and revocations.
How does someone know if a pharmacy, veterinarian or doctor has been disciplined? This is not an easy task. If, for example, a pharmacy has been discplined by the FDA for a compounding issue, a warning letter will have been issued. The warning letters are available on the FDA website.
But how does one find out if that pharmacy has been disciplined in one of the 50 states? Each state has its own disciplinary process and procedures and each has its own laws regarding whether this information has to be made available to the public. For example, inn Michigan, the Michigan Public Health Code, P.A. 368 of 1978, as Amended, mandated that the Department of Consumer & Industry Services is required to publish the names and addresses of disciplined individuals.
In Texas, the April 2004 Sunset Commission recommendation that the Texas board should post information about disciplinary orders and sanctions on its web site in a format that consumers can easily access. The Texas Veterimarian Board of Medical Examiners publishes an alphabetical list of disciplinary actions dating back to 1970. Included are the name of the practitioner, date of action, violation, summary and sanction. Click here. Other states, such as Oklahoma publish disciplinary actions on their web sites - either as disciplinary lists, in Board Minutes, or as licensee lookup by name.
Those, like Texas, that publish a compiled list rather than look-up by name or scattered among years of archived news letters or board minutes make this information most easily accessible to the public.Accurate licensing AND disciplinary information should be easily available to the public. Disclosing license status (i.e., "active license") is inadequate and may be misleading. MANY ACTIVELY LICENSED VETERINARIANS HAVE HISTORIES OF SERIOUS COMPLAINTS AND DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS AND MAY EVEN BE UNDER CURRENT SANCTIONS.
ARE DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS REPORTED TO A NATIONAL DATABASE?
The American Association of Veterinary State Boards maintains VIVA® (Veterinary Information Verifying Agency) as one of its services to its members that include 57 veterinary medical licensing boards in the U.S. and Canada. The VIVA® database, originally named the "Disciplinary Database" includes licensure and disciplinary information supplied by AAVSB Member Boards that is cross-referrenced because many veterinarians are licensed in more than one state.Source: http://www.usvet2005.com/pdf/107.pdf
Until AAVSB finished compiling the national disciplinary database in late 1994, there was no simple way for officials of one state to tell whether a vet who applied for licensing there had been disciplined by another state or even had his license revoked. In 1997 it was reported that while all 50 states participated voluntarily, it was up to each state to determine how many years of historical data to include. Charlotte Ronan, Executive Director of AAVSB, estimated that a quarter of the states provided fewer than five years of records for the database.
Source: http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?Story=tenthings-may97
Between October 2002 and May 2003, the AAVSB received disciplinary reports from only about 29 jurisdictions. North Carolina was not one of them although the NCVMB had previously reported discipline to AAVSB. From the June 18, 2003 NCVMB Minutes, "Dr. Gordon [Board member Joseph K. Gordon, DVM] discussed with the Board the reporting of disciplinary actions to the American Association of Veterinary State Boards' (AAVSB). disciplinary database. Following the report from the Executive Director [Thomas M. Mickey] Dr. Marshall [Board member David T. Marshall] made a motion to not participate in the National Disciplinary Database until such time that the administrative issues within the office of the AAVSB are resolved. Dr. Lewis [Board member Amy J. Lewis, DVM] seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously."
Sources: http://www.aasvb,org; Information obtained from AAVSB Program Administrator May 5-6, 2003; Minutes of the NCVMB June 2003 - November 2007
The August 5, 2009 Minutes of the North Carolina Veterinary Board state: "The Board discussed the history of the Board's relationship with the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AASVB). Mr. Mickey [Thomas M. Mickey, Executive Director] reviewed recent administrative and other changes intended to improve the efficiency and accountability of AAVSB staff operations. The Board determined that is should confirm whether AAVSB had established sufficient security measures for confidential information and correct operational issues so as to justify this Board's resuming active participation in AAVSB. Following discussion, upon motion of Mrs. Robinson [Board member Nancy K. Robinson, RVT], seconded by Dr. Davidson [Board member Michael G. Davidson, DVM], the Board unanimously voted to authorize the necessary expenses for Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Mickey to travel to the AAVSB headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri to investigate administrative and staff changes and to report back to the Board."
Source: Minutes of the NCVMB November 5, 2009
The accuracy and validity of the AAVSB national discipline database as a resource to all State Boards is dependent upon ALL state members reporting disciplinary actions - censures, reprimands, fines, suspensions and revocations.
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