The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Medical Licensing and Discipline Board (Board) attached to the Department of Health. A qualified opinion is issued when individual or combined noncompliance is significant, but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Medical Licensing and Discipline Board had 160 unprofessional conduct cases unresolved since 2001, and 408 medical malpractice cases unresolved since 2003. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report DA-19-24 of May 9, 2019.
The Act 38-2017, Uniform Administrative Procedure Act of the Government establishes that every case subject to an adjudicative proceeding must be resolved within six months of its filing, except in exceptional circumstances. In addition, Act 139-2008, Act of the Medical Licensing and Discipline Board provides that the Board must issue a report within 90 days of receiving any information about actions constituting professional malpractice.
This situation, attributed to the lack of attorneys, prevents the Board from issuing a timely resolution in those cases where there is an imminent danger to public health and welfare.
The two-finding audit points out that the Board does not have an inventory or a retention plan for medical records and the archive area does not have adequate lighting or sufficient shelving. This situation, contrary to current regulations, makes it difficult for medical records to be kept in good condition and easily located (see photos in Appendix 1 of the Report). This first report of the Board covers the period from June 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021.
See Audit Report DA-22-08.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
Some documents on this page are saved in PDF format.
To view these documents, you must have the following free program installed.
