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Medical board says it is not responsible for 'daily deal marketing cease and desist' letters sent to physicians

The Medical Board of California issued a statement last week that it did not author a letter apparently coming from its  Discipline Coordination Unit warning physicians to immediately "cease and desist " from conducting any daily deal marketing arrangements with sites such as Groupon, Living Social  and Amazon. A number of California physicians have called the medical board stating that they have received these letters dated November 6, 2013, on the medical board’s masthead.   These letters are fraudulent and were not generated by the medical board. When the medical board ...

Governor signs CMA-sponsored bill to expedite physician licensure for practice in underserved areas

Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill (AB 1288) sponsored by the California Medical Association (CMA) that requires priority review status be given to the license applications of physicians who can demonstrate that they intend to practice in a medically-underserved area or serve a medically-underserved population.   With California facing an uneven disbursement of physicians, increasing the physician pipeline to those areas to ensure delivery of safe, quality medical care will be crucial to the health of those communities.   “We need more physicians in rural and underserved areas of California,” said Paul ...

CMA opposes bill that lowers standard of proof for physician discipline

California legislators are currently considering a bill, SB 670 (Steinberg), that would increase the likelihood that limitations will be erroneously placed on a physician’s ability to practice. SB 670 allows the Medical Board of California to use a significantly lower standard of proof – "probable cause" instead of the more reliable "clear and convincing evidence" – to determine if a physician's prescribing of controlled substance is a danger to patients and the public. This reduces the level of evidence needed to justify placing a serious limitation on the physician’s ...

Medical board to suspend licenses of physicians with delinquent taxes

The Medical Board of California will soon be sending notices to physicians who have outstanding tax obligations, warning that their medical licenses may be suspended if they do not pay their tax obligation or enter into a payment plan within 90 days. A new state law, passed in 2011, authorizes the medical board to deny an application for licensure and to suspend the license of any licensee who has outstanding tax obligations due to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) or the State Board of Equalization (BOE) and appears on either ...