Special Topics
Medical Reviews
The Board relies on professional opinions provided by independent outside medical reviewers to help determine the outcome of investigations and licensing applications that involve questions about the quality of medical care provided to patients. Independent outside medical reviews help the Board determine whether the minimum accepted and prevailing standards of care were met and, if not, how that care departed from accepted standards. Below are some of our FAQs on the outside reviewer process.
Q: Why does the Medical Board need outside medical reviewers?
A: Outside reviewers are critical to the Board’s quality of care case review process. The Board relies on its ability to draw on the knowledge and experience of medical experts regarding whether the minimum accepted and prevailing standards of care have been met in investigations and licensing applications that involve quality of medical care provided to patients.
Q: What is the specific service outside medical reviewers provide to the Board?
A: The reviewer’s role is to determine whether the minimum accepted and prevailing standards of care were met at the time of treatment. Reviewers are provided with bookmarked electronic copies of medical records and other relevant documents, which they evaluate. They also receive a worksheet for the case review and provide their opinions to the Board in the form of a written report.
Q: Are outside medical reviewers compensated?
A: Yes. Reviewers are compensated at a rate of $175 per hour for the time spent reviewing records and writing their reports. Time spent on a pre-hearing deposition, preparing to testify at a hearing, and testifying at a hearing is reimbursed in accordance with a separate fee schedule that can be found at the end of the Board’s Expert Reviewer Manual.
Q: May outside medical reviewers remain anonymous or will the clinician under investigation know who reviewed his or her care?
A: The Board maintains the confidentiality of reviewer names and reports submitted by reviewers to the extent allowed by law. Should the case proceed to a stage where a disciplinary or denial hearing is scheduled, the applicant or licensee and their legal representative (if they have one) will be provided with a copy of the reviewer’s report and the reviewer may be asked to testify at a deposition and a hearing.
Q: Am I at risk of being sued for serving as a medical reviewer or testifying at a hearing for the Board?
A: North Carolina General Statute § 90-14(f) provides civil immunity for reviewers when their review is provided in good faith and without fraud or malice.
To indicate your interest in providing outside medical reviews, contact reviewers@ncmedboard.org.
