The Office of the Arizona Auditor General released the findings of its audit of the Arizona Medical Board this week, applauding its progress but indicated there’s still more improving to do.
The Medical Board, which is responsible for licensing and regulating doctors in Arizona, has been under intense scrutiny lately.
It began in the fall of 2013 when the Arizona Ombudsman-Citizens’ Aide released a 192-page report that concluded the board had broken multiple state laws and rules and risked the public’s safety by streamlining the application process without properly verifying doctors’ credentials.
The board then fired its then-executive director Lisa Wynn, who the Ombudsman determined had been largely responsible for the issues.
The Auditor General had also since been reviewing the board and recommended ways to improve policies and procedures, such as updating application forms to be in compliance with state law. The Auditor General released its findings of that audit Monday, which stated there has been progress but there’s still room for improvement. It’ll come back in six months for another review.
Concerns over doctors’ licensing procedures have also been a concern at the legislature. Last year, state lawmakers passed new legislation requiring the board conduct state and federal background checks on individuals applying for a new physician license or renewal.
Prior to the new law, Arizona was among the minority of states without a background check requirement on doctors, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Portions of that new law went into effect in September. The FBI, however, refused to cooperate because the information obtained from the background checks was also required to be disclosed on the physician’s profile on the board’s website.
So the Medical Board stopped issuing new licenses for about a month, and then resumed with some conditions.
This year, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1149, which specified that information obtained from the FBI would not be publicly disclosed by the board.
