We recently represented a Physician Assistant in an OPMC investigation regarding the care and treatment rendered to a patient in an office-based practice that was under the management of a very large hospital. Our client had worked for several years with this practice before it came under the control of the hospital, and the relationship between the physician/owner and the PA’s in the office went downhill over time, to the point of being actually almost adversarial. The physician/owner stayed with the practice after the takeover by the hospital, but things did not improve in the office, and finally, our client was able to manage a change to another office location. However, before that change took place, an event happened that caused the Office of Professional Medical Conduct to become involved. This event involved one patient, and the instructions for medication for this patient involved communication within the office about when the patient should be seen again. The communication situation in the office broke down, and everyone began to cover themselves, placing blame on our client. In the end, our client was terminated from employment, and that termination brought OPMC into the picture.
To prepare for the OPMC Interview, we obtained copies of the medical records and carefully reviewed the entries of all concerned. We then met with the client and prepared to tell the entire story of just how dysfunctional the entire office was, and why this dysfunction was the underlying reason for the problem. Health care providers were not communicating with each other, apparently out of spite, and there was a total lack of cooperation within the office. It appeared that there was an almost purposeful adverse atmosphere created that made it certain that problems were going to develop, all to the detriment of the patient population.
After the OPMC Interview, we submitted our response to the issues raised, and in the end, OPMC decided not to bring any disciplinary action against our client and, instead, concluded the investigation via an Administrative Warning. Please note that an Administrative Warning is not disciplinary in nature and accordingly it is not posted on the OPMC website or on the National Practitioner Data Bank.
This was simply an excellent outcome for the client, and it only came about because we were able to demonstrate that the underlying problem was the poisonous situation in the practice where everyone was trying to shift blame to others, and the patients were the ones to suffer due to this problem.
The case shows that you can leave no stone unturned when representing a client, because you can never tell what facts are going to resonate with OPMC, and permit your client to rightfully avoid disciplinary action.
