State medical boards and the politics of public protection / Carl F. Ameringer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ameringer, Carl F.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Medical care--United States--Quality control.

Medical care.

Health occupations licensing boards.

Physicians.

Discipline.

United States.

Quality control.

Physicians--United States--Discipline.

Health occupations licensing boards--United States.

Professional standards review organizations (Medicine)--United States.

Professional standards review organizations (Medicine).

Licensure, Medical.

Health Policy.

Medicine.

Politics.

Medical Subjects:

Licensure, Medical.

United States.

Health Policy.

Medicine.

Politics.

Physical Description:

176 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, [1999]

Summary:

State medical boards are the public's first line of defense against bad medical care. By licensing and disciplining physicians, the boards help maintain high standards in the medical profession. But how well have the boards succeeded in fulfilling their mission, especially in an era of managed care and its attendant impact on medical accountability?

This book offers the first comprehensive political account of state medical boards. Drawing on board records and files, interviews with prominent physicians, and his own experience as former assistant attorney general in charge of administrative prosecutions, Carl F. Ameringer reconstructs the political maelstrom surrounding physician discipline before and after the advent of managed care. He shows how the widening scope of conflict in the health-care field and improvements in case management and reporting techniques led to a substantial increase in the number of disciplinary actions in the 1980s and 1990s. And he describes the battles fought between state boards and their founding professional associations over efforts to prosecute physicians for drug abuse, sexual misconduct, and poor technical performance.

At a time of growing public awareness of both declining professional authority and the growth of government and corporate bureaucracy in the health-care industry, the conclusions of State Medical Boards and the Politics of Public Protection are especially timely. The book will be of interest to political scientists, physicians, and health-care consumers alike.

Contents:

Introduction: The Politics of Public Protection 1

1 The Professional Order 14

2 The Decline of the Professional Order 39

3 Building a Modern State Medical Board 57

4 Balancing Public and Professional Concerns 80

5 The Battle with HMOs 108

6 State Medical Boards and the New Corporate Order 122.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-169) and index.

ISBN:

0801859875

OCLC:

39281825