New York’s often slow and secretive process for disciplining bad doctors could become more transparent under reforms proposed by Gov. Cuomo as part of his State of the State agenda.
Cuomo on Friday called for the state health commissioner to have more power to suspend a doctor’s license if there is a risk to the public and to acknowledge when the state Office for Professional Medical Conduct is investigating a doctor.
The governor also wants to disclose when a doctor has been issued a warning for a “minor and technical violation.”
Cuomo’s office noted that a full OPMC investigation in 2018 took an average 307 days because of due process procedural rights, “which impede and greatly lengthen the progress” of the probes.
The Post reported last year that authorities in New York and New Jersey can take months to act against physicians who have been disciplined in one state but not the other, allowing them to keep practicing.
Cuomo also proposed having doctors periodically renew their medical licenses or lose them.
“These sweeping proposals will help ensure patients have access to critical information they need to make informed decisions about their healthcare and give state health regulators more tools to investigate and penalize providers for dangerous, unethical or illegal behavior,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Dr. Arthur Fougner, the head of the Medical Society of the State of New York, told members in a message that he planned to meet with state officials Monday to learn more about the proposed changes.



