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Influx of doctors overwhelms Texas board

Mon July 9, 5:18 PM ET

An influx of doctors lured to Texas by new limits on malpractice lawsuits

has overwhelmed the state board that screens candidates for medical licenses,

creating a backlog that forces many applicants to wait months before they can

start seeing patients.

Officials said many of the relocating physicians are filling shortages in

areas such as Beaumont, where trauma patients previously had to be flown other

cities because there weren't enough surgeons to treat them.

But Austin psychiatrist Dr. E. Kreisle Jr. said he fears the Texas

Medical Board's backlog could prompt some physicians to rethink their decision

to move.

Kreisle and his colleagues have been waiting since the fall for two

psychiatrists from South Carolina and Georgia to get licensed in Texas so they

can

join their practice. In the meantime, patients are being forced to wait three

weeks for appointments.

The board received 4,000 applications for medical licenses in 2006, up from

2,992 the previous year. Spokeswoman Jill Wiggins said the board expects to

approve 2,750 new licenses this year, 235 more than last year. There is a

backlog of more than 2,398 applications.

Lawmakers approved $1.2 million to hire six more employees to process

applications more quickly. The board has also hired temporary workers and is

paying

staffers overtime, but they still can't keep up, Wiggins said.

" The pipeline is just clogged, " she said.

Approving an application for a medical license involves verifying the

doctor's medical education, doing a criminal background check and other steps.

In

2003, it took 45 days to approve the most complex applications and 20 days to

approve the simplest, Wiggins said.

Data provided by the board shows it is now taking the agency more than six

months to process the most complicated applications, including those that come

from out-of-state doctors or veteran doctors who have long histories to be

checked. The simplest applications are taking about 41 days to approve.

Wiggins estimated it will take " a little over a year " before the agency's

new staffers can bring the applications backlog under control.

" You're turning a battleship around, " she said.

Several doctors who moved to Texas from other states said they were drawn by

lower malpractice insurance rates.

The average malpractice insurance premiums in Texas have fallen by 21.3

percent since 2003, when lawmakers and voters implemented a $250,000 cap on

non-economic damages such as pain and suffering in malpractice cases, according

to

Jon Opelt, who leads a group of doctors, hospitals and other health care

providers that fought for the changes.

The changes are " a big factor why Texas has become a popular state to

practice in, " said Dr. Punit Chadha, an oncologist who moved from Chicago to

Austin

last year. He said his malpractice insurance premium is one-fourth of what

it would have been in Chicago.

Dr. H. Brown, an obstetrician who opened a Round Rock practice with

his wife in May, said they paid $130,000 a year for their malpractice insurance

in Georgia. Now, they pay a combined annual premium of $82,000 a year.

" It was a $24,000 raise for each of us before we even got started, " Brown

said.

Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

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