A couple of weeks ago, I shared about a scam taking place against nurses in Idaho and which now has spread to Missouri.  What is happening is that nurses are alerted by a phone call and letter purportedly from the state Board of Nursing telling the nurse that they are being investigated and required them to provide a payment in the form of a bond to keep their license active during the investigation.

The premise on this scam is that someone had used an advanced practice nurse’s NPI number to write prescriptions in another state and that they were under investigation for allegedly trafficking in illegal drugs.

The letter looks official and much of what is in the letter, such as the nurse’s home address, state license number and NPI number, are real.  However, keep in mind that no nurse should be required to pay upfront any monies like a bond for an investigation.

You can confirm your license at www.nursys.com.  It also advised that the nurse could enroll in nurses enotify to receive notifications such as license renewal reminders, verification when the license is renewed and notification of any change to their license or discipline status.

While it is certainly scary that nurses are being scammed, be very cautious if you receive such a phone call or letter from the Board.  It also may be worthwhile to contact an attorney.

Every couple of years, the Nursing Service Organization (“NSO”) publishes a claim report and their most recent one is the 4^th edition and some interesting things surfaced.  Since NSO provides insurance for nursing representation for medical malpractice and for the Board matters, the claims report is split into 2 sections: malpractice defense claims and license defense claims.  You can check out the claims report here.

Of interest is that the number of medical malpractice claims have increased in home care because everything is outpatient these days and more and more patients are being discharged still with acute medical conditions to convalesce at home.

Regarding state Board of Nursing claims, I always knew that substance abuse was not the majority of claims before the Board.  In fact, substance abuse and drug diversion represented 42.3% of professional misconduct matters which accounted for 32.5% of claims.  Therefore, substance abuse and drug diversion was only 42.3% of 32.5% of all claims. Sixteen-point one percent (16.1%) of the 32.5% of all claims involved criminal conduct.  Interestingly for the “most trusted profession,” criminal and drug diversion or substance abuse issues were pretty high.

Six percent (6%) of claims involved reciprocal actions meaning there was an action in one state, so another state took action.  Twenty nine percent (29%) of claims involved provision of services beyond the scope of practice.  This involved nurses making changes to patients’ prescribed treatments or administering medications that had not been prescribed.  Forty-nine-point six percent (49.6%) of documentation matters involved fraudulent or falsified patient care or billing records.  This is so interesting and can include failure to document.

One of the biggest concerns that nurses have is that their license will be suspended or revoked.  Only 1.5% of licenses were revoked.

What also was interesting is that 45.6% of claims that are investigated actually get dismissed.  Just because an investigation is being performed does not necessarily mean that action will be taken against your license.

So, the converse is true.  Approximately 55% of licensed Board matters lead to some type of Board action against a nurse’s license.

Lastly, I hope I get this statistic correct: nurses are approximately 43% more likely to have Board matter rather than a malpractice claim.

It would be nice to see all of these numbers decrease because I truly believe the vast majority of nurses do their best to give excellent patient care with the information, staffing, equipment, supplies, conditions, etc., that they have

I would love to get your thoughts on the claim report.  Please leave your comments below.

Each year 7,000 nurses have some type of discipline put on their license.

When a Board disciplines a nurse, it can usually do 1 of 4 things.

1. Give the nurse a reprimand which is like a slap on the wrist.
2. Place the nurse’s license on probation.
3. Suspend the license.
4. Revoke the license.

The most common option seems to be placing the nurse’s license on probation.  This is called an encumbered license which will be noted in the public records.  A nurse on probation may have a difficult time finding a job with an encumbered license and it must be disclosed to any potential employer.

Furthermore, a potential employer can easily find this information on nursys.com or on the website of the Nursing Board in your state.  In addition, the nurse will be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank any time an action is taken against their license.

One of my sayings is it’s easy to get on probation and may be hard to get off probation.  At least in Indiana, to get off probation, a nurse must petition the Board and actually attend a hearing where the nurse is put under oath and the proceedings are transcribed by a court reporter.

The nurse then must present an opening statement, call witnesses, introduce evidence, cross examine any opposing witnesses and then present a closing argument.  This is a legal proceeding and the nurse has a right to be represented by an attorney.

The nurse not only must show that she has complied with every requirement of the probation but also present that the conditions that led to her license being placed on probation are no longer present.

My best words of advice are to take your probation seriously and comply with every requirement as if your livelihood depended on it!  In fact, it very well may determine your future career as a nurse.

If you are required to submit documents to the Board, make sure that you send them via certified mail or, in the alternative, by email … and make sure you keep copies of everything.

As I noted, finding a job may be difficult while on probation however, nurses are needed now more than ever.

Rather than just submitting an employment application online, I advise you to find out who the “decision-maker” is and talk directly to that person.

Probation is not the end of the world but you do want to avoid that possibility because prevention of a problem is the best defense.