Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability
Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability

Progress Report: Medical Quality Assurance Improves Accountability System; Information Tracking Concerns Persist

Report 04-71, October 2004




Report Summary

  • The Medical Quality Assurance Program has taken steps to improve its accountability system, and has established a system to track how long it takes to process nursing license applications. The program needs to evaluate the feasibility of tracking this information for other health care professions.
  • The program implemented our recommendation to assess the effectiveness of its delinquent license policy. Officials amended the policy when they found that investigations of delinquent licensees were not cost-effective.
  • The program has made progress in implementing an electronic continuing education tracking system. However, the system may produce incomplete and unreliable information due to low rates of stakeholder participation and an over-reliance on self-reporting by licensees. If participation in the new tracking system remains low and/or most of the information is self-reported, program officials should develop options for legislative consideration, such as requiring participation in the tracking system, expanding the electronic license renewal system, or transferring monitoring responsibility to professional associations in lieu of continuing its time-consuming and costly post-license renewal audits.


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Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.
Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.
social services, health, medical quality assurance, practitioner regulation, practitioner profiles, continuing education, physician discipline, licensing, health care practitioners, quality assurance