Medical board official defends Hawai'i doctors, review process

Associated Press

The chairwoman of the Hawai'i Board of Medical Examiners yesterday said there are numerous reasons why the board is ranked last in the nation when it comes to the number of disciplinary actions against doctors.

Dr. Patricia Blanchette suggested that the state may just have better doctors, noting that one-third to one-half of Hawai'i's physicians are graduates of the University of Hawai'i medical school, which she said is very selective and has a strong program in teaching medical ethics.

The low ranking by Public Citizen, the public interest group founded by Ralph Nader, was in a report based on information from the Federation of State Medical Boards on the rate of serious disciplinary actions taken against doctors last year.

Public Citizen said the national rate was 3.56 disciplinary actions per 1,000 physicians, compared with 3.36 in 2001. The group showed Hawai'i at 1.07 disciplinary actions per 1,000 physicians in 2002 while the national leader, Wyoming, had 11.87.

Because Hawai'i is a small state where people tend to know one another, problems are dealt with before the state has to take action, she said.

She also said that, by state law, any formal complaints against a physician are referred first to the state's Regulated Industries Complaints Office. "The board only sees what RICO passes on to us," she said. "RICO could close a case and we would never see it."

She also said the Hawaii Medical Association has a good peer review process that deals with problems before the state needs to take action.

HMA also has a "first-class" physicians health committee that takes referrals, including self-referrals, and works with physicians who are suspected of being impaired by age and confusion, or who abuse alcohol or drugs, Blanchette said.