Pa., Va. latest states to offer physician data online

Health care professionals are again questioning what information about physicians should appear on state Web sites.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Aug. 13, 2001.

Todd Sagin, MD, doesn't mind having his name, birth date and medical license information splashed across the Internet for all to see.

The family physician, who practices in the suburbs of Philadelphia, says doctors with nothing to hide should not worry about a new state Web site that posts profiles of Pennsylvania physicians.

"It's a good idea because there is a lot of concern among the public that the medical profession is hiding its dirty laundry," said Dr. Sagin, who is among the state's more than 44,000 licensed physicians.

Pennsylvania launched the site in July, joining other states that provide physician profiles and disciplinary actions on the Internet.

In 1996, Massachusetts became the first state to make its profile database available to the public.

Now 32 states, including New York, California and Florida, post profiles on the Internet for consumers. Most sites contain discipline and license data. Arizona started a site this year, and Virginia launched an online version in July.

"The trend certainly continues in the direction of making this information more readily available to the public," said Dale L. Austin, interim chief executive officer of the Texas-based Federation of State Medical Boards. "To make it available to the public makes sense. The public demands it."

Along with noting whether discipline was taken by the state's board of medicine, the Pennsylvania site includes the doctor's city, employer and license status. Also available are facts on nurses and other professionals licensed by the state. [...]