Officials at 黑料新闻鈥檚 health department say they hope to update doctor disciplinary records across the state by the end of the year. A TAP investigation earlier this year found that out-of-state disciplinary information was missing from some doctor鈥檚 profiles on DPH鈥檚 site. Now, members of the Medical Examining Board are crediting The Accountability Project鈥檚 investigation for sparking the change.
鈥淭he investigative report was helpful in that it brought a problem to light that is now being fixed. So that's good,鈥� said board chairperson Kathryn Emmett. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate it existed, but I'm glad it's in the process of being fixed.鈥�
After being contacted earlier this year by 黑料新闻, DPH acknowledged it had failed to update some physician profiles. It said the task of automatically forwarding all out-of-state discipline reports to the unit that updates those records was 鈥渋nadvertently lost in the mix of reassigning tasks following a series of staffing changes.鈥�
鈥淭hat was kind of a damning story, and very well documented in June,鈥� board member Michele Jacklin said, referring to the investigation. 鈥淎nd I think that certainly should be a concern of ours about what's being done now to update the files and make sure that 黑料新闻 residents can have faith that when they look up 鈥� the records of 黑料新闻 physicians, that they are up to date.鈥�
This is a prime example of why 黑料新闻 launched The Accountability Project. If we had not started asking the tough questions, who knows when the missing information would have been updated. Our job is to hold the powerful accountable and to spark change and that鈥檚 exactly what happened here. While the acknowledgment from board members is nice, it鈥檚 really the change that keeps us digging for more stories.
