Patient guides · Public Citizen HRG 2021-2023
Understand board discipline before you need it
Plain-language explainers for checking a license, reading action types, and comparing state boards, every figure tied to the same Public Citizen / FSMB / OIG tables behind the state pages.
- 51
- Jurisdictions
- 0.81/1k
- National average rate
- 1.82
- Top rate (per 1k)
- 364
- Top serious-action volume
Download the state medical-board statistics extract cited on this page: state-board-statistics.csv (Public Citizen HRG 2021-2023 · FSMB · CC BY 4.0).
The short answer
Start with the Public Citizen rate board: Ohio sits at 1.82 serious actions per 1,000 physicians.
Each guide below is grounded in the same Public Citizen HRG 2021-2023 state-board rates (national average 0.81/1k) and the live HHS OIG LEIE extract used on state pages. Use them to check a license, decode action types, or compare boards before treating a rate as a patient-safety grade. Dataset vintage: August 2026.
Rate and volume diverge
According to the Public Citizen Health Research Group HRG 2021-2023 tables, among boards with ≥5,000 licensed physicians, Ohio (OH) leads the serious-action rate at 1.82 per 1,000 while California (CA) leads serious-action volume at 364 actions. Rate #1 is not volume #1.
- 1.82
- OH rate /1k
- 364
- CA actions
- 0.81/1k
- National average
- 7
- Guides in this hub
Live SQL over states with ≥5,000 physicians (same comparative floor as state pages). Dataset vintage: August 2026.
How 7 published guides split by purpose
Exclusive purpose mix across the catalog, not the rate/volume ladders below.
Serious-action rate leaders
Serious-action volume leaders
Guide library
How to Check If Your Doctor Has Disciplinary Actions
Free step-by-step guide to verifying a physician license and checking for board actions using state and federal tools.
What Medical Board Disciplinary Actions Mean for Patients
The difference between license revocations, suspensions, probation, reprimands, and consent orders, and what each means for patient safety.
How State Medical Boards Protect Patients (and When They Don't)
How the complaint process works, what triggers investigations, and the systemic limitations of the 50-state medical board system.
Comparing State Medical Boards: Discipline Rates Across the U.S.
Why some state medical boards discipline more doctors than others and how to interpret the rankings.
Types of Medical Board Disciplinary Actions Explained
License revocation, suspension, surrender, probation, what each means for the physician and for patients.
Your Rights as a Patient: How to File a Medical Board Complaint
How to file a complaint with your state medical board and what happens after you file.
Understanding Medical Board Discipline Data on PlainDiscipline
How to interpret discipline rates, data sources, limitations, and research use.
Methodology
Guides cite Public Citizen Health Research Group serious-action counts, FSMB physician census denominators, and HHS OIG LEIE exclusion rows. Rate charts use the same ≥5,000-licensee floor as the state pages so small boards do not dominate per-capita leaders.
When methodologies differ between sources or change over time, we note the variation inline. See the full methodology page.
Source: Public Citizen Health Research Group + Federation of State Medical Boards + HHS OIG HRG serious board-action rates, FSMB physician census, OIG LEIE extract · 2021-2023 Guides teach how to read the same rate and exclusion tables used on state pages.
Verify this page
According to the Public Citizen Health Research Group, the Federation of State Medical Boards, and the HHS Office of Inspector General, serious board-action rates and federal exclusions are published in fixed reporting windows. Every figure on PlainDiscipline is rebuilt from those Public Citizen / FSMB board-rate tables and the OIG LEIE extract; no number is typed in by an editor. Guide-hub KPIs and both ChartBars are live SQL over the portal DB (rate-ordered and volume-ordered state cohorts) - no rate or volume figure on this page is typed by an editor. Data current as of August 2026.
Board rates and LEIE exclusions are published regulatory counts for a fixed reporting window - not physician-quality rankings, medical advice, licensing recommendations, or real-time board-case status. Data changelog