South Dakota medical board to get new executive
The board will no longer share facilities and staff with the state medical association.
By Damon Adams, amednews staff. Feb. 14, 2005.
South Dakota's medical board and its state medical association are taking steps that will separate two groups that have long shared close ties.
For many years, the same person has served as administrator of the South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners and the South Dakota State Medical Assn. The two entities also share office space, staff and other resources.
Now the medical board is looking for a new administrator and plans to move its office. The board has been taking applications for the position.
"New members of the board felt there was a dire need for a change," said Robert L. Ferrell, MD, the medical board's president and an otolaryngologist in Rapid City, S.D.
Paul Jensen has served as administrator for both the medical society and the medical board, which licenses and disciplines the state's 1,500 physicians. He will remain in his role at the medical association.
The close tie has been criticized by some lawmakers and the media as being a conflict of interest. In an investigation in 2004, the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls said the board's investigations and records were shielded from the public and that the board was reluctant to take action against physicians. The newspaper found that North Dakota, a state with nearly as many licensed physicians, disciplined doctors three times as often.
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