California fines out-of-state doctors for prescribing

More medical boards may start crossing state lines to police online prescribing.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. March 3, 2003.

In the largest penalty levied yet for online prescribing, the Medical Board of California has fined six out-of-state physicians $48 million for prescribing drugs over the Internet.

The board said the doctors violated a state law enacted in 2001 to protect Californians from doctors who prescribe drugs over the Internet without a prior "good faith" examination.

The action is likely to encourage other medical boards to take tougher stands against online prescribing.

"These are the most severe [fines] we're aware of for physicians for Internet prescribing," said James Thompson, MD, chief executive officer of the Texas-based Federation of State Medical Boards. "This will establish a precedent that state boards will go after physicians licensed in other states who are practicing medicine over the Internet in their state."

Dr. Thompson said the fines will make doctors reconsider how they use the Internet.

"This will be a wake-up call for all physicians who are using or who plan on using the Internet for the practice of medicine. Physicians need to be certain they are following the guidelines set by the regulatory authorities in their state, which are charged with protecting the public," he said.

But some medical boards cannot penalize out-of-state doctors for Internet prescribing, and they wonder how California will enforce the fines.

"We do not have the regulatory authority to reach [across states]. If they're licensed in Tennessee, there's nothing we can do," said Jill Wiggins, spokeswoman for the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.