Illinois Physician Disciplinary Rate Improves
For Fifth Consecutive Year

SPRINGFIELD – Reflecting the Blagojevich Administration’s commitment to improving access to high quality health care, Illinois has dramatically improved its ability to act against physicians who violate their patients’ trust.  Illinois now ranks 12th for its enforcement of disciplinary cases against physicians, according to an analysis released by Public Citizen earlier today.

“We rely on doctors to protect our health, and this study shows that we’re doing a better job of making sure Illinois doctors are performing in a safe and professional manner.  Our improvements are making health care in Illinois better and safer,” said Dean Martinez, Secretary, Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

The department has streamlined the way it handles medical disciplines.  In cases where a mandatory report is received, investigators immediately request or subpoena medical records, rather than wait until the initial review is completed, thus allowing the case to move forward more quickly if an investigation is warranted.  IDFPR has a full time medical practice coordinator, an experienced team of medical investigators and a prosecution team that consistently presents solid cases before the Medical Review Board and Administrative Law Judges.  The department is also more aggressively disciplining physicians who have substance abuse issues and acting more swiftly on disciplining doctors who have been disciplined in other states.  Finally, the hard work of the Medical Disciplinary Board has reduced the backlog of cases and increased the number of physicians who receive significant disciplines.
 
“Based on recent trends, Illinoisans can feel better about the work being done to reduce the risk of poor or dangerous medical treatment,” said Daniel E. Bluthardt, Director, Division of Professional Regulation. “For example, during the past few years, we have stepped up the use of our authority to immediately suspend the licenses of physicians for behavior that could cause a threat to the health and safety of our residents.”

Using data collected by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), the Public Citizen Health Research Group found that Illinois has increased its effectiveness in disciplining physicians for each of the past five years.  The state is now ranked 12 in the nation for the rate of serious disciplinary actions taken against licensed doctors, up from 18 last year.  Illinois’ ranking for 2002 was 41 and 2003 it rose to 35. In 2004 the state ranked 25. Meanwhile, the number of complaints has stayed relatively constant with complaints against about 5% of the doctors practicing in the state.

In 2006, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation sanctioned 172 physicians through the loss of license privileges or the restriction of those privileges.  The physicians were disciplined for actions ranging from mishandling of payments to gross negligence.   To review the reports cited above click on Federation of State Medical Boards or Public Citizen's Analysis