Public Citizen's Health Research Group: Questionable Doctors: Alaska

ALASKA

1999 serious action rate: 10.34/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 1st

In Alaska, there were disciplinary actions reported against 97 doctors including 15 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 2 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 4 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 2 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 3 who were convicted of a crime.

This web site provides aggregate national and state data on doctor discipline. Names of those doctors and their offenses are NOT included on the site. Web sites with such information need to be frequently updated and we cannot do this because of limited staff and resources available to continually monitor the information that we receive from the 51 MD and 14 DO licensing boards and the federal government. This website does provide direct links to the web sites of those boards that have information available on the internet.

Detailed information on specific doctors who have been disciplined is included in the book which can be purchased in regional editions for $20. The book includes disciplinary actions taken against doctors from 1990 through December 1999.

The Alaska State Medical Board sent disciplinary listings covering actions taken from 1990 through 1999. Only for January 1991 through October 1992 did they send us the same forms as are sent to the Federation of State Medical Boards for reporting purposes. These include the physician's name, degree, license number, date of birth, address, date and type of action taken and the reason for the action. These listings include the physician's name, degree, the date and type of action taken, and the reason for the action. The listings also contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions affecting board actions. Alaska informed us no such actions had taken place.

The information provided covers disciplinary actions taken against allopathic physicians (MDs) and osteopathic physicians (DOs).

Besides disciplinary actions taken by the State Medical Board, this listing also includes actions taken by the Medicare/Medicaid programs, the FDA, and the DEA against physicians located in this state. Disciplinary actions taken by other states against physicians located in Alaska or that match a physician disciplined by Alaska are also included.

BS00024A.gif (1893 bytes) Alaska Board Internet Address: http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pmed.htm

This state has a web site which we have graded X on a scale of A (best) to X (worst) as part of our February 2000 Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites This grade is a measure of the completeness of the information on disciplined doctors. Those state licensing boards with web sites make independent choices about the type of information to be included on their site and how often it is updated.

According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, Alaska took 12 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 1,160 MDs practicing in the state, Alaska had a serious disciplinary action rate of 10.34 actions per 1,000 MDs, ranking 1st on that list (see Table A).

The tables below summarize the data Public Citizen received from Alaska.

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	1	0.6%
Surrender	18	11.2%
Suspension	5	3.1%
Probation	20	12.4%
Practice Restriction	15	9.3%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	0	0.0%
Other Actions	102	63.4%
Total Actions	1	100.0%

* This table lists only the two most serious disciplinary actions taken against a physician
** Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

Table 2. Offenses for which MDs and DOs were Disciplined 1990 through 1999*
Offense	Number	Percent
Criminal Conviction	3	2.9%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	5	4.9%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	2	2.0%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	2	2.0%
Substance Abuse	17	16.7%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	16	15.7%
Other Offenses	57	55.9%
Total Records With Offense Listed	102	100.0%

* Includes only those actions for which an offense was listed and for which we had a corresponding term in our database.

Table 3. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	1	3.6%
Probation	9	32.1%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment	3	10.7%
Other Actions	15	53.6%
Total Actions	28	100.0%

If you feel that your doctor has not given you proper medical care or has mistreated you in any way--whether or not he or she is listed in this report--it is important that you let your state medical board know. Even if they do not immediately act on your complaint, it is important that the information be recorded in their files because it is possible that other people may have filed or will file complaints about the same doctor. Send a brief written description of what occurred to the addresses below or call the phone numbers listed for more information on how to file a complaint.

Address
Alaska State Medical Board
Leslie G. Abel, Executive Secretary
3601 C St., Suite 722
Anchorage, AK 99503-5986
(907) 269-8160/ 8163
Fax: (907) 465-2974
E-mail: leslie_abel@dced.state.ak.us

Internet address: http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pmed.htm