State med board disciplinary action numbers fall again

Once again, the number of disciplinary actions taken against healthcare professionals by state boards of medicine has fallen, according to a new report by the Federation of State Medical Boards. In its report, the Federation notes that the 5,319 actions taken represent a 4.6 percent decline from the 5,574 taken in 2006, and a notable 14.4 percent drop from the 2005 total of 6,213. These numbers include both "prejudicial" actions such as revocation, suspension or mandatory retirement of medical licensure, as well as administrative actions considered to be "nonprejudicial." While the Federation isn't weighing in on the meaning of these numbers, consumer group Public Citizen uses them to rate states on how often they take "serious" actions, drawing unfavorable attention to those states whose rate of serious actions is comparatively low.

To learn more about these stats:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece

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