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Illegal Pain Clinic Crackdown Continues

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Illegal Pain Clinic Crackdown Continues The quarterly newsletter of the Texas Medical Board, Texas Physician Assistant Board and Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners May 2011 Death Record Illegal pain clinic Update crackdown continues: If you will EVER be called upon to sign a death cer- The Texas Medical Board’s initiative “It doesn’t look anything like your tifi cate, please register to to shut down illegal pain pill mills doctor’s offi ce. Sometimes there’s fi le the certifi cate elec- continues. The most recent high- a security person there to keep tronically -- ahead of time. profi le crackdown was the arrest of order, make sure everyone stays in Processing time for new Houston doctor Gerald Ratinov, M.D., a straight line around the building, enrollments is seven to and 18 co-conspirators, the Drug take the money. 10 business days. Once Enforcement Agency announced in the death has occurred, it’s March. “When I call local police (for back- too late; you’ll have to do up), I’m very frank. I tell them who your part on paper and put So far, TMB has suspended or can- I am, we’ve heard there are guns in yourself at risk of being the celed the certifi cations of a eleven the clinic, and we need someone in subject of a TMB complaint. pain clinics, and taken action against full uniform with a pistol visible. scores of individuals for pain pill- ACTION REQUIRED!!! related violations, such as non-ther- “When you mess with someone’s apeutic prescribing or prescribing drug supply or revenue stream, it As requested by members to a known addict. Ratinov has since can be bad. You have to have your of the Texas Legislature, wits about you. We’re overly nice, agreed to a suspension of his medi- the TMB gave physicians a if anything. We don’t try to infl ame cal license, based on his criminal grace period to allow them indictment. According to the DEA, anybody. more time to register. The Dr. Ratinov was the No. 1 prescriber of Hydrocodone in the state. “We’re working on one (case) with TMB also refunded fi nes and a doctor who’s very elderly. It’s sad dismissed pending disciplin- What does it take to shut down a - when they got into medicine, they ary actions. pill mill? A TMB investigator recently got into it for all the right reasons. gave a glimpse of the nuts and bolts Some of them probably traded That grace period is end- involved a pain clinic investigation: chickens for care. Some of them are ing and enforcement re- trying to keep up their revenue – sumes June 1. To register, “Houston is the hub of where it’s but you can’t be a pill pusher. visit www.dshs.state.tx.us/ happening. We do an extensive “I wish some of these doctors had vs/edeath/ for more infor- background investigation before we Continuedjust retired… nextSome ofpage these doctors go in. We do all our homework. have never had a blemish on their CONTINUED NEXT PAGE report. I cry sometimes. I try not to “We’ll identify ourselves. We stand cry inside the offi ce. But some of What’s ‘KSTAR’?, p. 2 around a few minutes in the (clinic) them are very, very sad situations. lobby. Then we tell the lady we need It’s the money.” Formal Complaints, p. 3 a place to wait in the back. Usually License Retirement, p. 4 there will be a mass exodus – pa- Rule Changes, p. 5 tients just get up and leave because New Licensees, p. 7 they know something’s up. Disciplinary Actions, p. 13 What is ‘KSTAR’? TMB disciplinary orders said Tammy Wilemon, Director of such as an orthopedic surgeon, occasionally require a physician Quality Assurance/Patient Safety needs to help with the assess- to undergo a “KSTAR assessment” for the Texas A&M Health Science ment. Video of the assessment as and “complete any recommended Center, Rural and Community well as exam scores are reviewed training.” What does this mean? Health Institute, where KSTAR is by a committee that produces a based. preliminary report. ‘KSTAR’ is shorthand for Texas A&M’s Knowledge, Skills, Training, The rigorous program demands a If the KSTAR client’s profi ciency Assessment and Research pro- lot of a physician, in terms of time is found lacking, the committee gram. The program is designed to and money. may recommend a mini-residency. help physicians re-enter clinical The mini-residencies take place Over the course of two days, the practice after an absence, or as- at John Peter Smith Hospital and physician undergoes an intense, sess and re-train a doctor whose health network in Fort Worth and focused evaluation that includes skills have been called into ques- last 90 days at a cost of $9,000. a performance assessment as well tion by hospital administrators or The doctor has to cover his or her as written exams. Wilemon says the Texas Medical Board. own housing costs. the standard cost for the two-day “We’ve had quite a few go assessment is between $8,900 and For more information, visit: www. through and be very successful,” $9,200 – or more, if a specialist, rchitexas.org Death records, cont’d mation. 2011, the rate was 88.4 percent! cate. Last year, more than 100 physi- The Texas Department of State In 2010, it took an average of cians found themselves facing Health Services’ Vital Statistics Unit 35.54 days to complete a death disciplinary action from the Texas initially estimated approximately certifi cate for records fi led com- Medical Board for failing to com- 15,000 physicians as potential pletely manually, with no elec- plete death certifi cates elec- medical certifi ers on death cer- tronic death registration use by tronically, as required by law. The tifi cates, based on their medical the funeral home or the medical good news is, adoption of Texas’ license and/or specialty. As of Feb- certifi er. (There were only 48 of all-electronic death registration is ruary 28, over 15,000 were physi- them). For all-electronic records, climbing steadily, state health of- cians enrolled, of which 8,497 the average registration time was fi cials say. For 2010, the usage rate used electronic death registration 11.85 days (105,914 records). was 63.6 percent. For the March to certify at least one death certifi - Helpful contacts: TMB: Licensees and applicants, questions: (800) 248-4062 or (512) 305-7030 (outside Texas) or email [email protected] Texas Medical Association: (800) 880-7955, in Austin (512) 370-1550 Texas Physician Health Program: (512) 305-7462* or [email protected] *all calls are confi dential 2 Formal Complaints Formal Complaints have been fi led with the State Offi ce of Administrative Hearings against the individuals listed below. Formal Complaints are public documents and are posted on physician profi les on the TMB web site. To read the full complaint, go to www.tmb.state.tx.us, click on “Look Up A Licensee”, accept the usage terms, and enter the licensee’s name or license number. Name Lic. No. Date Filed Allegati ons Berg, Michael W., M.D., F3683 12/15/2010 Failure to meet standard of care; neg- Houston ligence; failure to safeguard against potenti al complicati ons; and non- therapeuti c prescribing. Boyd, Gary D., M.D., F9226 11/15/2010 Failure to meet the standard of care; negligence; safeguard against poten- ti al complicati ons; inadequate medical records; and providing medically un- necessary services to a pati ent. Burzynski, Stanislaw R., D9377 12/8/2010 Failure to meet standard of care; M.D., Houston negligence; lack of informed consent; unprofessional conduct; and nonther- apeuti c prescribing. Casti lleja, Jerry F., M.D., H9456 12/7/2010 Failure to comply with a Board Order; Seguin and dishonorable conduct. Chuong, Tony Tuan, M.D., K3136 11/5/2010 Failure to meet the standard of care; Arlington negligence; and failure to safeguard against potenti al complicati ons. Gibson, Donald, II, M.D., H5209 2/2/2011 Failure to comply with a Board Or- Houston der; dishonorable conduct; writi ng fi cti ti ous prescripti ons for dangerous drugs; nontherapeuti c prescribing; and prescribing in a manner inconsis- tent with public health and welfare. Granger, William T., III, M.D., K4443 11/23/2010 Unprofessional or dishonorable con- Corpus Christi duct; and writi ng prescripti ons using an expired DPS registrati on. Locke, James P., M.D., K4489 11/16/2010 Failure to meet the standard of care; Houston negligence; failure to safeguard against complicati ons; and nonthera- peuti c prescribing. Ochoa, Ricardo A., M.D., L1417 12/15/2010 Nontherapeuti c prescribing; prescrib- Harlingen ing to a known abuser of narcoti cs; dishonorable conduct likely to deceive or defraud the public; failure to meet the standard of care; and failure to safegaurd against potenti al complica- ti ons. 3 Formal Complaints, continued Name Lic. No. Date Filed Allegati ons Perez, Michael J., M.D., H8949 10/19/2010 Inability to practi ce medicine with Houston reasonable skill and safety because of illness, drunkenness or excessive use of drugs; use of drugs or alcohol in an intemperate manner that could endanger the lives of pati ents. Rodriguez, Francisco J., M.D., D3082 10/22/2010 Failure to meet the standard of care; San Antonio negligence; failure to safeguard against complicati ons; and termina- ti on of pati ent care without providing reasonable noti ce to the pati ent.
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