Audits of drug programs for healthcare providers sought

In light of widespread failings in a state-run treatment program for substance-abusing doctors, a key state senator said Monday that audits are needed of similar programs for nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals.

Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) called a legislative hearing in the wake of a decision by the Medical Board of California last year to abolish its confidential addiction program after five audits found that it was not working.

Ridley-Thomas said he was troubled that reviews had never been conducted on the seven other healthcare boards that offer so-called diversion programs. Under such programs, drug- and alcohol-abusing healthcare providers avoid public disciplinary action by receiving treatment and agreeing to random drug tests, among other things. Their participation is kept private from their patients and the public.

Because “so much is at stake,” Ridley-Thomas said, public confidence demands that audits be done.

The senator also said he was concerned that there weren’t common standards to govern the different boards’ programs. Some allow health professionals to continue practicing while receiving treatment and others do not.

“I’m not sure that an ‘impaired healthcare professional’ -- whether it be a nurse, a doctor, a pharmacist, a physical therapist -- ought to be treated any differently because of his or her particular profession,” said Ridley-Thomas, chairman of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee.

Carrie Lopez, director of the state Department of Consumer Affairs, which provides administrative support to the boards, agreed that her department needed to do more and said it would perform an audit in the future. The outside contractor that runs the diversion programs for seven healthcare boards -- but not for the medical board -- said it was open to additional scrutiny.

The hearing rehashed arguments for and against the medical board’s program, slated to end in June.

Complaints about drug-addicted doctors will then be investigated like any other complaint to the board. Public allegations will be filed, and if they are upheld, disciplinary action taken.

Dr. Richard Fantozzi, president of the medical board, and patients injured by drug-addicted doctors said physicians should be treated no differently from others caught with drugs or alcohol.

“It was clear that withholding information from the public about impaired physicians who had violated the medical practice act could not be tolerated,” Fantozzi said. “This equated to a lack of public protection provided by the board and the program.”

But advocates for doctors urged the Legislature to step in and create an alternative to the board’s abolished diversion program.

They said doctors might not disclose their problems if they faced the possibility of disciplinary action.

“The best way to ensure safety is really to minimize barriers which would prevent physicians from entering a treatment and monitoring program,” said Dr. David Pating, immediate past president of the California Society of Addiction Medicine.

“It would be a shame to just educate them and then when they come forward, you set up a system where you just go after their license.”

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charles.ornstein@latimes.com