California Medical Board Proposes Legislation to Recreate Failed Program that Kept Doctor Substance Abuse Secret from Regulators and Public, Says Consumer Watchdog

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Medical Board of California will vote on a controversial legislative proposal that would significantly decrease accountability and transparency for doctors in substance abuse treatment at its Quarterly Board meeting in Los Angeles on Friday. This legislative proposal seeks to overturn a compromise that the legislature made years ago to balance the interests of the public and physicians. It also overrides transparency and accountability standards that every other state healing arts board must use in monitoring and evaluating substance abusing healthcare professionals.

Consumer Watchdog's letter to the Medical Board of California (MBC) expressed concerns that the Board's vote to proceed with this legislative proposal would erase 16 years of consumer advocacy directed to protect patients. 

"Consumer Watchdog has reviewed the legislative proposal to overturn existing law, SB 1177 (Galgiani), which requires the Board to adhere to Uniform Standards for Substance Abusing Health Care Professionals, SB 1441 (Ridley-Thomas) while creating a new Physician Health and Wellness Program (PHWP). With your proposal removing the accountability and transparency that current law provides, the Medical Board of California (MBC) is taking Californians backwards to a secret Diversion Program that numerous audits proved failed, and a previous board unanimously voted to terminate. Any new program should not allow doctors facing discipline to divert into a secret program. Maintaining Board oversight of physicians with substance abuse problems is the only way to protect patients." 

Consumer Watchdog wrote, "The previous diversion program failed all five audits it faced. Physicians that failed drug tests or cheated on drug tests were allowed to continue to skip and/or fail testing and the findings were kept confidential from the Board. The program was used as a revolving door by repeat offenders to avoid discipline indefinitely. ... With this legislative proposal the MBC is reversing those laws, giving up its right to protect consumers, and patients' rights to transparency and accountability are lost in the process." 

The MBC continues to argue that program participants should be afforded full confidentiality regardless of how many times they fail aspects of the program because their concern is that substance abusing licensees will only self-refer to the program with full confidentiality privileges. Statistics from the prior confidential program show otherwise. 

Consumer Watchdog wrote, "The idea that a confidential program will encourage voluntary participation is a myth. Over its three-decade history, the Medical Board's Diversion Program was never successful in enticing self-referrals into voluntary treatment." 

The Medical Board intends to eliminate any consequences that current law requires substance abusing licensees to face, the letter continued. 

"The Uniform Standards currently require reporting of all violations of a participant's contract to the MBC, not just program withdrawals and terminations as the new proposal would allow. The Uniform Standards also created consequences for violations. These critical consumer protections include a requirement the Board be notified when a physician in the program fails a drug or alcohol test, that the Board issue a cease practice order, and that the Board require clean drug or alcohol testing for a minimum of 30 days before a physician returns to work to ensure patient safety. Such consequences do not appear in this legislative proposal." 

"Although the mission of the Medical Board of California is to protect healthcare consumers and prevent harm through the proper licensing and regulation of physicians and surgeons and certain allied healthcare professionals, this proposal is taking every action conceivable to keep health care consumers in the dark and limit consumer protection," stated Michele Monserratt-Ramos, Kathy Olsen Patient Advocate at Consumer Watchdog. 

Consumer Watchdog's letter to the Medical Board of California can be found here. 

The Medical Board of California's legislative proposal can be found here. 

Program History: 

The MBC's original confidential physician diversion program was terminated in 2008 by a unanimous vote with then Board President Richard Fantozzi stating that the program was putting Californians at risk. That same year the California Medical Association sought an author to bring the defunct diversion program back. The then chair of the Senate Business & Professions Committee called for a Diversion Summit in early 2008. The outcome of the summit was the committee chair's call to author SB 1441 (Ridley Thomas) Uniform Standards for Substance Abusing Healthcare Professionals. After numerous attempts to bring the defunct diversion program back, SB 1177 (Galgiani) was passed into law in 2016 requiring the MBC to create a Physician Health & Wellness Program that must adhere to the Uniform Standards. It took the MBC 8 years to present regulations for a new PHWP program. The regulations were close to being finalized in March when the MBC made the surprise move to terminate the program's regulations and pursue new legislation effectively overturning two existing laws to do so.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog