Maryland examines doctors' influence

How close is too close? That's a question a state legislature is asking about the relationship between state medical boards and state medical associations.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Oct. 15, 2001.

In Maryland, the state medical society conducts balloting among doctors to identify candidates for the Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance, the state's licensing and disciplinary board. The governor then makes board appointments from the submitted list.

The society, known as the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, or MedChi, also solicits doctors to conduct peer reviews for the board when a physician's competence is questioned.

Some state legislators say the relationship between the medical society and board is too cozy and gives the society too much influence with the board. They say the close ties protect physicians against discipline, making the board ineffective.

This fall, legislators will hold hearings to discuss restructuring the board and in the process will scrutinize what kind of relationship a state medical board should have with a state medical society.

Maryland is one of the few states across the country where the two organizations are so intertwined.

In some states, the two value each other as partners in improving patient care while in other states the relationship is considerably more adversarial. The majority of state medical associations and medical boards have relationships that fall somewhere in between.

Experts who have watched those sometimes tension-filled relationships point out that state medical boards tend to represent the public while state medical societies represent the profession.

Boards and associations can work well together on issues, particularly when seeking legislative change. [...]