ISSUES AND ANSWERS
Volume 8, No. 3
May 1997
New Continuing Education Requirements
Effective May 12, 1997, medical doctors in Oklahoma will be required
to obtain 150 hours of continuing medical education every three years in order
to renew their medical licenses. At least 60 of the 150 hours must be Category I.
Reporting of C.M.E. will not begin until July 1, 2000. Medical Doctors
seeking initial licensure or reinstatement of licensure will also be required to show
proof of C.M.E. The following is the new rule adopted by the Board
requiring C.M.E.:
OAC 435:10-15-1. Continuing medical education
(a) Requirements.
(1) Effective July 1, 2000, each applicant for licensure, re-registration of licensure or reinstatement of licensure shall certify that he/she has completed the requisite hours of continuing medical education (C.M.E.).
(2) Requisite hours of C.M.E. shall be one hundred fifty (150) hours within the preceding three (3) years of which sixty (60) hours will be Category I as defined by the American Medical Association/Oklahoma State Medical Association/American Academy of Family Physicians or other certifying organization recognized by the Board.
(b) Exceptions/verification.
(1) Exceptions from the requirement shall be:
(A) Medical Doctors in residency and fellowship programs.
(B) Medical Doctors in a Physician Emeritus status.
(C) Holders of current American Medical Association Physician Recognition Award (A.M.A.P.R.A.) or its specialty equivalent or recertification by specialty group whose program for the certification has been found by the Board to be equivalent to the Physician Recognition Award.
(2) The Board staff will, each year, randomly select applications for verification that all C.M.E. requirements have been met. Physicians choosing to use programs other than the A.M.A.P.R.A. must submit additional documentation on request as evidence that the compliance with C.M.E. requirements have been met in the specified time period.
(c) Compliance.
(1) Failure to maintain such records rebuts the presumption that C.M.E. requirements have been completed.
(2) Misrepresenting compliance with C.M.E. requirements constitutes a fraudulent
application.
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
Staff
Mr. Lyle Kelsey has become the Executive Director for the Board of Medical Licensure, effective May 1, 1997.
Mr. Kelsey is the 2nd Executive Director for the Board since its inception in 1923. He replaces Carole Smith who served as Executive Director for 13 years and a total of 23 years with the Medical Board.
Mr. Kelsey served as Associate Director for the Oklahoma State Medical Association for the past 18 years with a four year hiatus from 1984 to 1988 when he was the Chief Executive Officer for an Oklahoma City based home health care agency. Part of his duties with the OSMA was as staff liaison with the Board of Medical Licensure and thus comes to the Board with a good understanding of the impact of both organizations on the practice of medicine as well as the other allied professions licensed by the Board.
Mr. Kelsey graduated from Oklahoma Christian University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management and received his MBA from the University of Central Oklahoma with course work in Health Administration. He also possesses the national designation as a Certified Association Executive (CAE).
The Board issues licenses and supervises the practice of medical doctors, physician assistants, athletic trainers, appretice athletic trainers, physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, licensed dietitians, provisional licensed dietitians, respiratory care practitioners, and electrologists. Mr. Kelsey also serves as Executive Director to the State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners and the State Board of Examiners of Perfusionists.
In addition to licensure and supervision, other issues such as the increased importance of continuing education among all the licensed professionals, credentialing verification, and expansion of the internet technology present a very rewarding future with the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision.
Mr. Kelsey stated, "This is a time in history when the Medical Board
has more and more responsibilities to assure the quality, competency and professional
behavior of all the licensed practitioners. I am very excited to be joining
the Board at this time. I have great reliance in the Board Members and confidence
in the staff to handle all of the activities of the Board to make certain that
the public is given adequate protection and each licensee is treated impartially."
Correction
In the January 1997 issue facilities for assessment and treatment of sexual disorders used by the Board were listed. The
telephone number listed for Del Amo Treatment Facility was misprinted. The correct number is (310) 530-1151 in Torrance, Calif.
We're Number 1
by Gerald C. Zumwalt, M.D.
Board Secretary/Medical Advisor
Aside from being dead, what do C.S. Bobo, M.D., C.F. Waldron, M.D. and Clive Major, M.D. have in common? The answer, obtained from handwritten ledger books preserved at our office in Oklahoma City, is that these three were issued Certificate (license) #1.
C.F. Waldron received certificate #1 issued by the Indian Territory Board of Health by reciprocity on June 7, 1891. The law establishing such a Board was passed in 1890. Dr. Waldron had obtained his medical degree from State University of Medicine in Iowa and already had been practicing in Oklahoma thirty months before the certificate was issued.
Clive Major was issued certificate #1 achieved by examination on July 31, 1891. Since no college or medical school graduation is listed, it is presumed that his education was accomplished by "reading" with an established physician until he could pass the exam. He is listed as having lived in Norman.
C.S. Bobo was born in 1856 and died in 1942. He was also a resident of Norman. He had possessed Territorial License #755 when he was issued State License #1 in 1908.
Perhaps it is a mark of professional humility that the president of the Board in 1908, W.J. Tillery, M.D. contented himself with possessing Certificate #2.
Since there has been some consideration recently to combine certain state Board and/or agencies, it is of interest that the Board in 1908 listed as members both M.D.s and D.O.s. In the minutes of a meeting a few years later the membership was listed with four "regular" doctors, one "physiomedical" doctor, one "homeopath" doctor and one "eclectic" doctor.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
The following is an actual case presented to the Board. Certain information has been disguised to protect the identity of the defendant but the facts of the case remain essentially the same. If you were a member of the Board what would you do?
THE CASE
Overprescribing
An older M.D. residing in a fairly small community in northern Oklahoma with no hospital and no noted medical clinics was reported by a local pharmacist to be writing large doses of opiates and benzodiazepines primarily to patients not previously known to the pharmacist. A drug survey was done and six to eight patients, over six month periods, were found to be receiving seven to fifteen unit doses/day. When the doctor's records on these persons were reviewed it was noted that some had traveled a long distance for their visit and there was a marked paucity of proof of medical need for the prescribed substances. The doctor was charged with prescribing controlled dangerous drugs in excess of good medical practice and without medical need.
The defense asserted that requiring documentation of medical need without a law defining what constitutes adequate records deprived the defendant of liberty and property without due process and that a lack of explicitly stated numerical standards for prescribing gives the Board impermissible discretion as to what constitutes unprofessional conduct.
The decision of the Board will be published in the next issue. We invite your consideration and response as to what should have been done.
RENEWAL REMINDER
If your medical license was issued in June, renewal of your license is due by June 1. If your license was issued in July, renewal is due by July 1.
Remember, when completing the renewal
application, the questions at the bottom of the front
page pertain only to the time "since the last renewal
or initial licensure (whichever is most recent.)"
Report of Board Meeting
Board Meeting - March 13, 14, 1997
In regularly scheduled meeting, disciplinary and licensing cases were considered and settled.Seven licenses were granted after personal appearances were made. One license was granted with acceptance of an agreement to continue in a sobriety support group. One application was tabled to allow the applicant time to try to clear probation imposed by another state.
Disciplinary matters included acceptance of a Voluntary Submittal to Jurisdiction in a case involving allegations of prescribing controlled dangerous drugs without a doctor/patient relationship and a sexual boundary violation. There was a three year probation ordered imposing terms of continued counseling, study and the use of duplicate, serially numbered prescription blanks for controlled dangerous drugs.
One license was revoked due to sexual misconduct involving inappropriate language and inappropriate exams of minor females.
Two doctors currently on probation requested a change in terms. One was approved and one was denied.
Five cases have been continued to the next meeting. Three licensees are currently in treatment for chemical abuse and two are still in medical therapy following allegations of inability to practice safely.
One case was continued based on an agreement by the defendant to seek evaluation and furnish results to the Board.
