skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Utah Rated Poor on Making Info Available on Doctors

play audio
Play

Monday, April 4, 2016   

SALT LAKE CITY – Finding out if your doctor has ever been disciplined by a state medical board can be a daunting task under the best of circumstances, and some states make it even tougher.

According to Consumer Reports, Utah is rated one of the most difficult states for finding out if your doctor has been put on probation for misconduct, made malpractice payouts or been convicted of crimes.

Lisa McGiffert, a Consumer Reports spokeswoman, says states should make it easy for consumer to find that information, but Utah falls short of the mark.

"Utah has kind of a mixed bag,” she states. “They've got information in two different places that they could integrate. They don't provide a plain language summary of why the board took actions against doctors and how that action restricted their license.”

McGiffert says Consumer Reports has published a study of the medical boards in all 50 states, ranking them from best to worst, based on how well they provide information.

She says one bright spot for Utah was that its website made it fairly easy to find complaints against doctors, but that information was not part of a single profile page.

McGiffert says Consumer Reports evaluated each state's medical board using 61 criteria. The main thing Consumer Reports looked for was whether the boards made complete information available in one convenient online place.

"Generally, we were looking to see whether these boards had what we call a physician profile where you can find pretty much everything that they have about the doctor that's publicly available," McGiffert explains.

She says Consumer Reports maintains that the National Practitioner Data Bank should be open to the public. It's a federal repository that contains information on malpractice payments and disciplinary actions taken by state medical boards and hospitals.

Access to the information is currently limited to doctors, hospitals, law enforcement, insurance companies and medical boards.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021