Data Sources

Public Citizen Health Research Group

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. Its Health Research Group has published rankings of state medical board disciplinary actions since the 1990s. PlainDiscipline uses the most recent publication (HRG (2021-2023 report)), which covers serious disciplinary actions during the 2021-2023 period.

Public Citizen defines "serious" disciplinary actions as license revocations, suspensions, surrenders, probations or restrictions, and other orders that meaningfully limit a physician ability to practice. This definition excludes minor actions like letters of concern, fines, and administrative penalties.

Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB)

The FSMB is the national organization that represents the 71 medical and osteopathic boards of the United States and its territories. PlainDiscipline uses FSMB Physician Data Summary Statistics 2023 for the licensed physician counts used to calculate discipline rates (actions per 1,000 physicians).

The FSMB also operates the Disciplinary Action Notification Service (DANS), which alerts state boards when one of their licensees has been disciplined in another state. This cross-state notification system is important because physicians can hold licenses in multiple states.

State Medical Board Websites

PlainDiscipline provides direct links and contact information for all 50 state medical boards plus the District of Columbia. This information is sourced and verified from official state government websites. We direct users to these boards for individual physician credential verification because the boards maintain the authoritative, real-time records of physician licenses and disciplinary actions.

What We Do Not Use

PlainDiscipline presents two kinds of public data. State enforcement rates are aggregate, state-level figures from Public Citizen and FSMB. Separately, we display individual federal exclusion records from the HHS OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) - a public dataset covering every provider type (physicians, nurses, facilities, and healthcare businesses), not physicians alone. We do not use NPDB individual records (which are not publicly accessible) or hospital credentialing data. To check a specific physician’s board-discipline history, we direct users to their state medical board.