Credentialing & Privileging

State suspends physician's license for arrests and drug use

Credentialing & Verification Update, November 18, 2008

The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended the medical license of a physician after an investigation revealed crack cocaine use and several recent arrests.

According to a board-issued report, the physician was first arrested for cocaine possession in 1987, after which he allowed his medical license to expire. The board reinstated the physician’s license in 1991 following his successful completion of a required substance abuse program. He stayed out of trouble until May 2007 when he was arrested for possessing crack cocaine after a routine traffic stop. Although those charges were dropped, the physician was later arrested several more times within the course of a year and a half.

This story highlights the crucial role of verification in credentialing and privileging. Although a check of the physician’s licensure would now reveal the suspension, this doctor had been practicing between 1991 and this year. A thorough verification of his application would have likely revealed at least a few red flags as a result of his past troubles with substance abuse and the law, allowing your organization’s credentialing committee to at least make an informed decision regarding this physician’s application.

Read more from the Ocean City Dispatch at: http://www.mdcoastdispatch.com/article.php?cid=30&id=4777

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