State Government Illustration (Tribune illustration)
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Illinois would require doctors to verify their academic, employment and disciplinary records through an independent national service before receiving a license to practice in the state, if legislation filed Tuesday by state Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, were to become law.
Flowers announced the proposed change to the Medical Practice Act at a committee hearing on physician background checks. The hearing was scheduled after the Tribune reported last month how Dr. Anthony Garcia, charged with killing four people, was able to hold a medical license in Illinois for a decade despite troubles in various residency programs.
"To say that Dr. Garcia was able to keep his record hidden in Illinois, it wasn't hidden," Flowers said. "No one went to look for it, that's what it was."
Before issuing a license, Illinois checks the National Practitioner Data Bank and the Federation of State Medical Boards for actions taken against a doctor's hospital privileges and medical license.
Those databases, however, may not catch resident warnings, terminations, nonrenewals and withdrawals, officials said.
Garcia failed to complete two residencies before being kicked out of a pathology program at the University of Illinois at Chicago for "substandard" behavior. He later was fired from a fourth residency in Louisiana when the state discovered discrepancies on his application through the credentials verification service that is offered by the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Louisiana is one of about a dozen states that require applicants to submit a so-called Federation Credentials Verification Service, or FCVS, profile, which independently confirms a physician's academic and work record.
The service profile revealed that Garcia had not reported that he was fired from an earlier residency in Nebraska and that he did not complete the UIC program. Garcia did not disclose those issues to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which issued him a permanent license in 2003 and renewed it three times after that. UIC officials also did not share Garcia's troubles with the department.
After learning of Garcia's July 15 arrest, Illinois regulators found discrepancies in his paperwork and suspended his license.
The Flowers bill seeks to add Illinois to the group of states that require the verification service profile, which state regulators said could help flag problem applicants.
The verification service profile would cost applicants about $300, according to state regulators. Jay Stewart, director of the Division of Professional Regulation, said the department is also looking to require that all Illinois residency programs notify the department when a resident physician fails to complete a residency and why.
Garcia was arrested in southern Illinois and charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Authorities have said the slayings, in Nebraska in 2008 and in May, were revenge against the doctors who fired Garcia from the residency program in Nebraska. Garcia has pleaded not guilty.
cdizikes@tribune.com
jscohen@tribune.com
Flowers announced the proposed change to the Medical Practice Act at a committee hearing on physician background checks. The hearing was scheduled after the Tribune reported last month how Dr. Anthony Garcia, charged with killing four people, was able to hold a medical license in Illinois for a decade despite troubles in various residency programs.
"To say that Dr. Garcia was able to keep his record hidden in Illinois, it wasn't hidden," Flowers said. "No one went to look for it, that's what it was."
Before issuing a license, Illinois checks the National Practitioner Data Bank and the Federation of State Medical Boards for actions taken against a doctor's hospital privileges and medical license.
Those databases, however, may not catch resident warnings, terminations, nonrenewals and withdrawals, officials said.
Garcia failed to complete two residencies before being kicked out of a pathology program at the University of Illinois at Chicago for "substandard" behavior. He later was fired from a fourth residency in Louisiana when the state discovered discrepancies on his application through the credentials verification service that is offered by the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Louisiana is one of about a dozen states that require applicants to submit a so-called Federation Credentials Verification Service, or FCVS, profile, which independently confirms a physician's academic and work record.
The service profile revealed that Garcia had not reported that he was fired from an earlier residency in Nebraska and that he did not complete the UIC program. Garcia did not disclose those issues to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which issued him a permanent license in 2003 and renewed it three times after that. UIC officials also did not share Garcia's troubles with the department.
After learning of Garcia's July 15 arrest, Illinois regulators found discrepancies in his paperwork and suspended his license.
The Flowers bill seeks to add Illinois to the group of states that require the verification service profile, which state regulators said could help flag problem applicants.
The verification service profile would cost applicants about $300, according to state regulators. Jay Stewart, director of the Division of Professional Regulation, said the department is also looking to require that all Illinois residency programs notify the department when a resident physician fails to complete a residency and why.
Garcia was arrested in southern Illinois and charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Authorities have said the slayings, in Nebraska in 2008 and in May, were revenge against the doctors who fired Garcia from the residency program in Nebraska. Garcia has pleaded not guilty.
cdizikes@tribune.com
jscohen@tribune.com
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