N.C. law makes medical board info public

State medical boards collect some very sensitive information on doctors--and make it available through the National Practitioner Data Bank--but most won't let the public see the data. In North Carolina, however, this will no longer be the case. The state legislature passed a law requiring the state's medical board to make a great deal more information public than it did the past.

The new law requires the board, which licenses 29,000 N.C. physicians, to publicly disclose physician felony convictions, sanctions by hospitals, malpractice payments and disciplinary actions by other state medical boards. The board will put the information up on its Web site within a few months.

To learn more about the new disclosures:
- read this piece from The Charlotte Observer

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