NFWL Health & Empowerment Policy Committee

WHEREAS, the spectrum of services provided by medical professionals in the United States comprises the foundation of our nation's superior standard of living and enhances the very fabric of the lives of its citizenry; and

WHEREAS, the State Medical Boards (hereafter "the boards") exist for the purpose of maintaining the high standards of excellence to which medical professionals in this country are held, and the public good is served by the boards' oversight of these standards; and

WHEREAS, the boards have tolerated practices and behaviors that obstruct the sworn duty of medical professionals in this country to provide health care services to the public, namely:
(1) the acceptance of anonymous complaints from insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, attorneys and competitors;
(2) the acceptance of opinions from "expert" witnesses;
(3) the lack of accountability of board;
(4) the prohibition of notes and recordings in hearings; and
(5) the denial of physicians their due process;
(6) the administration of disciplinary action for menial and trivial records' findings;
(7) the use of tactics of intimidation;
(8) the manipulation of assignments to the Informal Settlements Conference (ISC) panels rather than a fair system of random assignments;
(9) the forcing of settlements, and:
(10) the act of ignoring conflicts of interest that arise regarding members of the board;

BE IT RESOLVED, the National Foundation of Women Legislators Healthcare and Empowerment Commitment advocates the elimination of the practices listed above and their replacement with the following:
(1) a commitment to the sacredness of the patient/doctor relationship;
(2) the increased transparency of charges and proceedings;
(3) the increased accountability of board members for their actions;
(4) the increased integrity on behalf of board members in carrying out their responsibilities;
(5) the acceptance of and giving equal weight to evaluations of a physician's care by physicians other than those chosen as "expert " witnesses by the board;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that National Foundation for Women Legislators does hereby recommend for the creation of independent and public Medical Board Oversight Committees in each state, appointed by the legislature, and charged with a range of duties and authority that will ensure the enactment and enforcement of such general policies as advocated above, including the ability to receive and evaluate complaints from patients and medical professionals against the boards and their members.