Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-9.1. Requirements relating to professional conduct
The board shall receive and maintain a confidential file, which will be available to the board to precipitate or aid in their investigations. The information shall also be available to licensed healthcare facilities including health-maintenance organizations in connection with the granting of staff privileges and to the individual physicians themselves and shall be available for inclusion in physician profiles pursuant to § 5-37-9.2. The file shall contain the following physician information:
(1) Cases of malpractice suits against a physician as reported to the board by insurers and self-insurers;
(2) Cases of malpractice suits that result in allegations being dropped, a dismissal, a settlement, or court judgment or arbitration award adverse to the physician;
(3) Reports by any hospital or state or local professional medical association/society of disciplinary action taken against any physician. This should also include any resignation of a physician if related to unprofessional conduct as defined in law or any withdrawal of an application for hospital privileges relating to unprofessional conduct;
(4) Reports by state and federal courts of physicians found guilty of a felony;
(5) Reports by the professional review organization and third-party health insurers of sanctions imposed on a physician;
(6) Annual reports by hospitals and health-maintenance organizations of current appointments to their medical staffs; and
(7) Information supplied to the board by the Federation of State Medical Boards and the American Medical Association. The file may contain any other data that the board by reasonable rule or regulation deems appropriate.
History of Section.
P.L. 1986, ch. 350, § 11; P.L. 1997, ch. 348, § 2.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-9.1
- Board: means the Rhode Island board of medical licensure and discipline or any committee or subcommittee thereof. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
- malpractice: means any tort, or breach of contract, based on health care or professional services rendered or that should have been rendered, by a physician, dentist, hospital, clinic, health-maintenance organization, or professional service corporation providing healthcare services and organized under Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Physician: means a person with a license to practice allopathic or osteopathic medicine in this state under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- unprofessional conduct: as used in this chapter includes, but is not limited to, the following items or any combination of these items and may be further defined by regulations established by the board with the prior approval of the director:
(1) Fraudulent or deceptive procuring or use of a license or limited registration;
(2) All advertising of medical business that is intended or has a tendency to deceive the public;
(3) Conviction of a felony; conviction of a crime arising out of the practice of medicine;
(4) Abandoning a patient;
(5) Dependence upon controlled substances, habitual drunkenness, or rendering professional services to a patient while the physician or limited registrant is intoxicated or incapacitated by the use of drugs;
(6) Promotion by a physician or limited registrant of the sale of drugs, devices, appliances, or goods or services provided for a patient in a manner as to exploit the patient for the financial gain of the physician or limited registrant;
(7) Immoral conduct of a physician or limited registrant in the practice of medicine;
(8) Willfully making and filing false reports or records in the practice of medicine;
(9) Willfully omitting to file or record, or willfully impeding or obstructing a filing or recording, or inducing another person to omit to file or record, medical or other reports as required by law;
(10) Failing to furnish details of a patient's medical record to succeeding physicians, healthcare facility, or other healthcare providers upon proper request pursuant to Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-5.1