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TMB to Require Physicians' Fingerprints
The Texas Medical Board (TMB) will resume using fingerprints of physicians for criminal background checks as part of the licensing process on Sept. 1. The fingerprinting will begin with the 4,000 physicians now applying for licenses in the state. After that, existing physicians will have to be fingerprinted when they apply to renew their licenses.
TMB Executive Director Donald Patrick, MD, says recent terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Scotland in which doctors have been implicated are an impetus for obtaining a more accurate and complete criminal history of physicians.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has contracted with Integrated Biometric Technology to do electronic fingerprinting of physicians. The company has branch offices throughout Texas. TMB will work with out-of-state license applicants to direct them to an appropriate fingerprinting facility.
The price of fingerprinting is expected to be $48.95 through Oct. 1. After Oct. 1, the price is expected to drop to $44.20.
The medical board previously required fingerprinting but eliminated the ink-based system in the late 1990s due to technical problems that delayed the licensure process. Electronic fingerprinting systems are more thorough and accurate and give the TMB instantaneous results, Dr. Patrick says. The DPS runs a national background check against FBI records to alert the medical board to any felonies or misdemeanors.
TMB has been using applicants' names for background checks and running them against Texas criminal records. But that system doesn't alert the medical board to past convictions in other states, he says.
"I suspect everyone would consider fingerprinting an imposition, but it's something we've done before, and we now have the capability of doing it again in a less invasive way," Dr. Patrick said. "If nurses are required to do it, then certainly doctors should be."
Last Published: 7/18/2007 Print this page
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