The Arizona Medical Board stopped issuing new doctor’s licenses last month after running into issues with a new state law.
It’s unclear how many applicants were affected, but the decision faced criticism from local health care leaders, who said it was only exacerbating Arizona’s chronic doctor shortage.
On Wednesday, the board changed course. It voted to immediately resume issuing new licenses, but with some conditions.
The issue started Sept. 2 when portions of a new state law went into affect. As of that date, anyone applying for a new physician license or a renewal must submit their fingerprints to the state Medical Board for the purpose of doing criminal background checks through the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Prior to the new law, the board was not required to do background checks on applicants or licensees seeking renewal.
But the FBI has refused to cooperate, said Alicia Cauthon, the executive director’s assistant at the Medical Board and the only person at the agency available for comment Wednesday.
“The information that we obtain from them is very highly confidential,” Cauthon said.
That’s because the FBI took issue with a portion of a state law that states a licensee’s criminal record, such as felony convictions, must be publicly available and posted to the Medical Board’s website. Because that kind of information from the FBI is confidential, she said, the FBI is refusing to do the background checks that the Medical Board is now required to obtain.
That’s why the board stopped issuing licenses. But according to Ken Behringer, the Arizona Legislative Council’s general counsel, the board actually could issue licenses anyway because the statute doesn’t require the background checks to be completed beforehand.
“Then there’s a question of impossibility,” Behringer said. “If the statute has a requirement that can’t be met under the current statutes, does that just paralyze the board from never issuing licenses? And I don’t think that legally it does that.”
So on Wednesday, the board voted to resume issuing licenses again, but applicants must now sign a sworn statement that they were truthful about their criminal records. If the background checks prove otherwise, licensees could face disciplinary action or have their licenses revoked.
The board plans to readdress the matter with the FBI at a later date, but in the meantime will hire a third-party company to do background checks.
Greg Vigdor, president and CEO of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, said this was relieving. He said the board has a backlog of roughly 700 license applications, a problem that predates the implementation of the new law last month.
“The board got together and reasoned heads prevailed and we found an alternative way to move forward and solving that problem and so the board is open for business again, that’s a really important thing and a good start for solving a bigger problem,” Vigdor said.
The question now is whether lawmakers will go back and adjust the law to accommodate the FBI in the next legislative session.
But in an email, state Sen. Nancy Barto, who sponsored the legislation earlier this year, said that might not be necessary.
“Legislation is a possibility but I understand the board also voted today to investigate other third party background check alternatives to the FBI — like [LexisNexus] — so that may not be warranted,” she wrote.
