Facilitating physician advice at the Board of Healing Arts
As part of the legislature’s action related to the controversy surrounding the performance of the Healing Arts Board in 2008, KMS played a central role in developing and passing legislation (HB 2620) that addressed issues and deficiencies that were identified by the legislature. Among the issues included in the legislation was a provision that authorized the Board to contract with a physician to provide advice and assistance on licensure, complaints and related matters (KSA 65-2878(e)). The Board has never acted on that authority, and currently has no physician either on staff, or under contract, to assist the Board as set out in this provision of the law.
Last year, at its House of Delegates meeting, KMS passed Resolution 2010-10 which renewed its call for the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts to contract with a physician, as authorized by state statute. KMS believes that an experienced medical professional would be an invaluable resource to the agency by:
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assisting with initial complaint review and providing guidance to investigative staff regarding materials which are required to satisfy initial case status;
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performing initial analysis of materials collected for relevance to the complaint and identifying critical, relevant investigative factors, including standard of care issues, to Review Committee and Disciplinary Committee members;
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recommending complaint disposition and assisting in case review and preparation, and
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providing general clinical consultation to agency licensure and investigative staff.
KMS recently appeared in support of the budgetary enhancement which would allow the Board to contract with a physician medical director and we will continue to actively follow this issue throughout the legislative session.
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