Department of Health

Office of Professional Medical Conduct: Complaints and Investigations Process

The Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct is responsible for investigating cases of suspected misconduct on the part of physicians, physician assistants and specialist assistants and, for taking disciplinary action where appropriate. We examined the actions taken by the Office in identifying, tracking and investigating complaints of alleged physician medical misconduct.

We found that the Office was thorough in its investigation of cases of potential misconduct, and generally tracked complaints in an effective manner. However, the Office was not proactively seeking to identify instances of potential misconduct, but was instead relying primarily on referrals from other entities. We found that these entities did not always refer instances of potential misconduct to the Office. We also noted that the Office could identify such instances itself if it routinely reviewed certain available information. We recommended that the Office perform such reviews and more actively coordinate with the entities reporting complaints and other instances of potential misconduct. We also recommended that action be taken to reduce delays in the Office’s investigations.

For a complete copy of Report 2005-S-21 click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.