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Contact:
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Amber Pasricha Beck
California
Physicians Act to Ease Doctor Shortage
CMA Files
Petition to Stop Medical Board Furloughs That Are Delaying the
Licensing of Hundreds of Physicians and Hampering Patients’
Access to Care
Sacramento
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The California Medical Association filed a lawsuit in state
Superior Court today seeking to end furloughs for the staff of
the California Medical Board, which is backlogged with
physician license applications and other important
administrative work affecting the quality and accessibility of
medical care.
“There
is already a physician shortage in California,” said Dr. Dev
GnanaDev, CMA president. “Because the Medical Board cannot
keep up with current licensing demand, communities lacking
access to health care will have to wait even longer to attract
new physicians. The consequences of the furloughs and transfer
of Medical Board funds to the state’s General Fund harm all
Californians.”
The
lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, says the Governor’s furlough
order is illegal for the Medical Board’s staff because the
Medical Board is funded by physician fees, and it challenges
the state moving $6 million of the Contingent Fund of the
Medical Board into the state’s General
Fund.
Because
the Governor has furloughed state employees three days per
month, the Board can no longer maintain adequate staffing,
resulting in an unprecedented buildup of license applications
and disciplinary investigations and enforcements. Qualified
physicians who are unlicensed but ready and able to
immediately practice medicine must sit
idle.
Both
Dr. Laura Howard and Dr. Partho Kalyani have been waiting
since May for the Medical Board to approve their applications.
Despite several attempts to contact the Medical Board, neither
knows if the Board has all the necessary information to move
forward with their submissions.
Dr.
Howard has been offered an ophthalmology position in Hanford,
a rural agricultural community with only two other
ophthalmologists. She has not been able to start seeing
patients and worries that the hospital will rescind its offer
of employment for a physician who is already licensed. Dr.
Kalyani has been restricted to performing research only within
his fellowship program. His lack of a license has hindered him
from being able to complete the patient related tasks within
his fellowship.
Both
physicians are ready and eager to start treating patients, but
because of the backlog caused by the unjustified taking of
Medical Board resources, they and many others must wait. As a
result of the furlough, it now takes the Medical Board
five-and-a-half months just to complete an initial review of a
license application. That delay is almost twice as long as
what is required by the law. The three furlough days could not
have come at a worse time.
In
addition to taking away staff, the Governor and Legislature
have redirected $6 million in Medical Board funds. By statute,
the sole source of funds available to the Medical Board comes
from physician license fees and other user fees that are
mandated to be spent for Medical Board purposes. The Medical
Board takes no money from the General Fund and does not depend
on the state to support its mandate.
“The
state has tried to solve its budget deficit with fees that
physicians pay to support licensing and disciplinary actions,”
Dr. GnanaDev said. “The two actions by the Governor and
Legislature have seriously impeded the work of the Medical
Board. CMA has filed this petition because the transfer
provision and the furlough orders are
unlawful.”
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The California
Medical Association represents more than 35,000 physicians in
all modes of practice and specialties. CMA is dedicated to the
health of all patients in California. | 