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

COLORADO

1999 serious action rate: 5.24/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 10th

In Colorado, there were disciplinary actions reported against 553 doctors including 74 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 5 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 19 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 138 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 24 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 Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners sent listings and copies of its newsletters that covered disciplinary actions taken from July 1990 through December 1999. These include the physician's name, degree, license number, date of birth, city and state of residence, the date and a brief description of the type of action taken and the reason for the action. The reports contain no information on modifications and terminations of board actions. Colorado sent separate information on these actions. Colorado informed us no court 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 Colorado or that match a physician disciplined by Colorado are also included.

Board Internet Address: http://www.dora.state.co.us/medical

This state has a web site which we have graded D 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, Colorado took 59 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 11,253 MDs practicing in the state, Colorado had a serious disciplinary action rate of 5.24 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and ranked 10th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs July 1990 through December 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	50	5.7%
Surrender	93	10.5%
Suspension	45	5.1%
Probation	192	21.7%
Practice Restriction	52	5.9%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	16	1.8%
Other Actions	436	49.3%
Total Actions	884	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 July 1990 through December 1999*
Offense	Number	Percent
Criminal Conviction	24	5.7%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	20	4.8%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	149	35.4%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	5	1.2%
Substance Abuse	79	18.8%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	13	3.1%
Other Offenses	131	31.1%
Total Records With Offense Listed	421	100%

* 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 Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	3	9.1%
Surrender	2	6.1%
Suspension	8	24.2%
Emergency Suspension	2	6.1%
Probation	11	33.3%
Other Actions	7	21.2%
Total Actions	33	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	20	9.2%
Surrender	16	7.3%
Suspension	3	1.4%
Emergency Suspension	8	3.7%
Probation	59	27.1%
Practice Restriction	20	9.2%
Reprimand	18	8.3%
Other Actions	74	33.9%
Total Actions	218	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	11	39.3%
Surrender	4	14.3%
Suspension	1	3.6%
Probation	4	14.3%
Other Actions	8	28.6%
Total Actions	28	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	1.5%
Surrender	6	4.5%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	1	0.7%
Suspension	4	3.0%
Emergency Suspension	6	4.5%
Probation	56	41.8%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	2	1.5%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment	6	4.5%
Other Actions	51	38.1%
Total Actions	134	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

Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners
Susan Miller, Program Administrator
1560 Broadway, Suite 1300
Denver, CO 80202-5140
(303) 894-7690

E-mail: medical@dora.state.co.us

Internet address: http://www.dora.state.co.us/medical