Waiting for a License…And Waiting….And Waiting…
June 29, 2007 by Jerri Lynn Ward, J.D.
Filed under Licensure Issues
The Austin American Statesman is reporting that thousands of Texans are waiting for licenses and license renewals from the Department of State Health Services. The agency suffered a flood from a broken pipe in one of its offices.
Two weeks after a burst pipe caused flooding that shut down a state health department building in Austin, thousands of people and businesses across Texas are waiting for licenses and permits. It’s affecting professionals from mold assessors to massage therapists and businesses from tanning salons to tattoo parlors.
Those waiting say the delay is causing confusion or, worse, throwing their career plans off track. They say they can’t get through by phone, the department’s e-mail response time is slow and that the Web site contains little information to help them.
A spokesman for the Department of State Health Services could not say how large the backlog is. But spokesman Doug McBride did say that the department processes applications for about 500 people and 100 facilities each day, so potentially 6,000 applications could be stuck. The department isn’t processing any applications now, he said.
According to the Agency’s website, licenses will not relapse. Also, the agency is sending letters out to some:
McBride said the department last week started sending letters that current licenseholders can use to prove their license has been extended.
They are also sending letters that new applicants can use to show they’ve met the requirements for certification or licensure, he said.
McBride said about 100 letters have been sent to people who have “an urgent need to get their license.”
But those letters have reached just a fraction of the people waiting.
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The Texas Medical Board has had a long history of tyranny. There are numerous accounts from physician and patients alike on how the Board has ignored patient confidentiality, disciple good doctors for perceived misconduct despite the allegations being false after court hearings. They have ruled with an “iron fist†with no checks and balances. In fact, of late, the mice have started to scatter. Dr. Keith Miller, a physician board-member recently resigned due to intense scrutiny by his peers for accepting money as an expert witness while serving as a TMB member construed by all of us as a clear conflict in interest. Roberta Kalafut, D.O. likely committed perjury before the Texas State Appropriations Committee in a recent hearing held to allow testimony against the Texas Medical Board for egregious actions by them. Dr. Kalfut is accused of having her physician husband file an anonymous complaint against one of her competitors which prompts a lengthy and painful disciplinary hearing against any physician keeping the from their patients and their ability to practice medicine without the fear of sanctions by the agency. It is unbelievable that this sort of behavior had existed for so long. I am very pleased that the Appropriations Committee, Regulatory Subcommittee led by Representative Fred Brown called this meeting. Hats off to them!
The 11 hour exhaustive hearing (which I did witness) was inundated with numerous well substantiated claims against the Board. There is no doubt that the Board has spend tons of tax-payer dollars disingenuously including in preparation for this hearing. More importantly, with respect to my blog, they have cancelled their October Licensure Committee Meeting amidst all the recent controversy (allowing registered sex offenders to maintain licensure, Board members being serving in a dual capacity for plantiff’s attorney’s against doctors and sitting on the board to discipline doctors, and members of the board “indirectly†filing complaints of members of their professional community deemed the “competition.†This brings me to the purpose of this blog. The Licensure division of the Texas Medical Board.
I am a oncologist who cares for those with cancer, specifically cancer of the breast. I am a native Texas who graduated from Texas A&M University and went on to Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center. After graduation, I left our great state to do my internship, residency, and fellowship in the leading centers of the world, including Yale Medical School and Cornell-Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. During this eight-year saga after medical school I managed to go into debt over $100,000. My husband worked to bring this debt down as I worked 90+ hours a week making little more than minimum wage during my post-graduate training. After the long and difficult road, we were very happy to receive a job offer back in Texas. We accepted the offer to be close to family and give back to people of the state of Texas, despite having attractive offers around the country. A good friend of mine warned me about the lengthy process of the licensure division. I had received my medical licenses in Connecticut and New York in 1 and 3 months respectively. Knowing this, I applied for my Texas license before I actually accepted the job here in Texas. The rumors were absolutely true. The Texas Medical Board licensure division process was the worst I have ever experienced. The staff were rude, discourteous and would not spend any time speaking to you to discuss where the process was being held up with your file. They stated they were overburdened by the number of new applications, which are up considerably due to Tort Reform. So, I waited patiently.
Months later, I received an email stating that pieces of the application were missing or incomplete. The “missing†articles were missing because someone at the Board misplaced them. I only could prove this to them after several hours of phone conversations because I had sent it return receipt and it was signed for by the Board. This prompted an additional delay of several months to my application after I returned what they had “lostâ€. At this point, we had already moved to Texas, rented a home, and tried to settle in to our new life. However, I could not begin my employment with my practice group of other cancer specialists. As months passed with no contact from the board, I became disillusioned. I decided to travel to Austin from Dallas on weekday morning to faciliate some communication with Board. Rather than a welcome and how can we help you, I was met with resistance from their department. They gave me no information as to why my application had been held up (now 6 months) and in fact one of their directors, Jaime Garanflo, essentially threatened that if I didn’t stop “harassing†them, they could deny my application. Deny my application? Based on what? The fact that I am looking out for my career and the well being of my family? For the overwhelming affection we have for our great state of Texas and wanting to give back to our community by bringing in medical expertise to help sick patients? So, I left, asking myself why should a regulatory agency have the ability to control of the professional lives of those that the State has given the authority to protect patients and serve physicians and other health care practitioners. Was it worth coming to Dallas at all? Is it fair that I have to live in debt without the ability to earn a living waiting for the wheels of this corrupt and inefficient agency to do it’s job. It was so ridiculous for someone from the Board to testify to Representative Fred Brown and the members of the subcommittee that the wait time for licensure applicants has come down considerably? Will the Board continue to lie in the face of adversity or try to accept their faults and correct them? Why should they care? Their lives and reputations are not being affected. I am sure there are other docs in similar and likely worse situations due to the inefficiency and tyranny of the Texas Medical Board. There is no doubt that the Board should be careful and methodical in researching the background of physicians wanting a medical license in this state. But, after subjecting oneself to the costs, time, and agony of complying with all of the measures stipulated by the Board, should we, the physicians, be penalized by having to wait 6 months to 1 year unemployed waiting for things to move along? Should we be met with the passive-aggressive behavior exhibited by people like Jaime Garanflo, Dr. Donald Patrick, and members of the Licensure Committee? Should we accept that our professional lives are being put on hold because the Medical Board has committed their time, energy, and money in the last few months preparing to defend their actions to the Appropriations Committee? Should be continue to allow them to hoodwink the legislators into thinking they are making the licensure process better and not worse? Let us hope not, or Texas will stand to loose a number of good docs.
I found this link about a Houston doctor who faced a similar ordeal. Her story was featured in the Houston Chronicle.
http://www.tapa.info/html/Newsroom/2007/Newsroom_Jan_25_2007.html
The house hearings can be heard at this link:
http://www.house.state.tx.us/fx/av/committee80/71023a02r.ram