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

MONTANA

1999 serious action rate: 2.95/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 32st

In Montana, there were disciplinary actions reported against 58 doctors including 9 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 2 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 1 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 8 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 5 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 Montana Board of Medical Examiners sent copies of reports submitted to the Federation of State Medical Boards from 1990 through 1999. The reports contain the physician's name, degree, license number, address, the date and type of action taken, and a brief summary of the reason for the action. In some cases copies of orders were sent. The reports contain some information on modifications and terminations of board orders but not on court decisions affecting board actions. Montana sent separate information on these actions.

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 Montana or that match a physician disciplined by Montana are also included.

Montana Board Internet Address: http://www.com.state.mt.us/license/pol/pol_boards/med_board/board_page.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, Montana took 6 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 2,036 MDs in the state, Montana had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.95 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 32nd on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	13	13.4%
Surrender	6	6.2%
Suspension	1	1.0%
Probation	32	33.0%
Practice Restriction	10	10.3%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	4	4.1%
Other Actions	31	32.0%
Total Actions	97	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	6	8.6%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	1	1.4%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	8	11.4%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	2	2.9%
Substance Abuse	13	18.6%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	9	12.9%
Other Offenses	31	44.3%
Total Records With Offense Listed	70	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 Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	18.2%
Surrender	1	9.1%
Probation	4	36.4%
Practice Restriction	2	18.2%
Other Actions	2	18.2%
Total Actions	11	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Suspension	1	6.3%
Emergency Suspension	4	25.0%
Probation	6	37.5%
Restriction on Controlled Substance License	1	6.3%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment	1	6.3%
Other Actions	3	18.8%
Total Actions	16	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:
Montana Board of Medical Examiners
Charlene Norris, Acting Executive Secretary
Arcade Building, Lower Level
111 North Jackson
P.O. Box 200513
Helena, MT 59620-0513
(406) 444-4284
Fax: (406) 444-1667

Internet Address: http://www.com.state.mt.us/license/pol/pol_boards/med_board/board_page.htm