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ABOUT THE GEORGIA COMPOSITE MEDICAL BOARD:

The medical licensing board regulates 38,000 doctors, along with 16,000 licensees in other professions including physician assistants, orthotists and prosthetists, and acupuncturists.

The board has 16 members, 13 of them physicians, two consumer members and one a non- voting physician assistant. They have an executive director, a medical director, an assistant medical director, and a support staff of 29 people involved in investigations, licensing and operations. Five are criminal investigators.

AMONG THE RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AUDITS AND ACCOUNTS:

■ The Georgia General Assembly should consider requiring additional public members.

■ The General Assembly should consider directing all fee revenue to purposes related to licensure, discipline and board administration.

■ The General Assembly should consider requiring violation reporting from additional entities such as hospitals, health care organizations and other doctors, and consider imposing civil penalties for failure to report.

■ The medical board should consider establishing comprehensive checklists for routine case reviews and investigative plans for complex investigations.

■ The medical board for internal purposes should consider documenting the reason for closing cases without discipline.

■ The medical board should establish sanctioning guidelines that outline criteria for determining appropriate disciplinary action. The guidelines should address the use of private orders and nondisciplinary letters of concern.

■ On physicians’ profiles on the board website, the medical board should provide a narrative summary of any violations and disciplinary actions. Links to the full board orders should be included in the discipline section.

■ The medical board should consider low- cost public outreach initiatives, such as monthly press releases on disciplinary actions and utilizing social media accounts.