Data Methodology

Primary Data Sources

PlainDiscipline draws from primary data sources for physician disciplinary records:

• Public Citizen Health Research Group - HRG 2021-2023 report, "Ranking of the Rate of State Medical Boards' Serious Disciplinary Actions". This analysis covers the 2021–2023 period and provides the most comprehensive state-level ranking of medical board disciplinary activity available.
• Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) - Physician Data Summary Statistics 2023, providing licensed physician counts by state. Used as the denominator for computing disciplinary action rates.
• HHS OIG List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General publishes the official federal exclusions database, covering every excluded provider type (not physicians alone). PlainDiscipline ingests this dataset directly for the individual exclusion records shown on action-type pages; it is a separate dataset from the Public Citizen/FSMB state-level rates above and is not cross-referenced against them record-by-record.
• State Medical Board Websites - Board contact information verified directly from official state government portals (typically `.gov` or state-license-board domains).

Data Vintage

Disciplinary action data covers the 2021–2023 period as reported in Public Citizen HRG 2021-2023 report. FSMB physician counts reflect 2023 data. State board contact information is reviewed periodically for accuracy. Individual federal exclusion records are separately sourced from the HHS OIG LEIE database (see below); this is a distinct dataset from the state-level Public Citizen rates and is not cross-referenced record-by-record against them. The three-year reporting window (2021-2023) smooths out year-to-year variability that can arise from individual high-profile cases or temporary changes in board staffing and enforcement resources, providing a more stable measure of each state's disciplinary activity.

A note on the two figures shown per state: the "serious actions" count is the cumulative total across the full 2021-2023 window, while the "per 1,000 physicians" rate is an annual average (the 3-year total divided by 3, then normalized by licensed-physician count). Dividing the raw action count by the physician count directly will not reproduce the displayed rate, since the two figures use different time windows by design.

Processing Pipeline

1. Public Citizen HRG publication data is extracted for all 50 states and D.C., providing serious disciplinary action counts and rates per 1,000 physicians.
2. FSMB physician counts are joined to state records to provide the licensed physician base for rate calculations.
3. State boards are ranked by serious disciplinary action rate (actions per 1,000 licensed physicians).
4. State board contact information is sourced from official state medical board websites and stored alongside statistical data.
5. All data is compiled into a structured dataset that powers the state profiles and national comparison pages on this site.

Definition of "Serious Disciplinary Actions"

As defined by Public Citizen and FSMB standards, serious disciplinary actions include:

• License revocations
• License suspensions
• License surrenders under investigation
• Probations with practice restrictions
• Other significant adverse board orders

Minor actions such as letters of concern, administrative fines, or required continuing education are generally not included in "serious" disciplinary counts.

How the Source Organizations Collect Data

Public Citizen's Health Research Group compiles disciplinary action data by reviewing official records from all 50 state medical boards, the District of Columbia medical board, and relevant federal databases. Serious disciplinary actions are counted according to standardized definitions developed in coordination with the Federation of State Medical Boards. The FSMB publishes physician counts based on registration data from state medical boards, which track every licensed physician in each jurisdiction.

State medical boards receive complaints from patients, hospitals, insurance companies, law enforcement, and other physicians. Boards investigate complaints, conduct hearings, and impose disciplinary actions according to each state's Medical Practice Act. The process and transparency of these proceedings varies significantly by state.

Corrections & Data Changelog

If a figure on PlainDiscipline looks wrong, use the contact page with the page URL and the value that looks off. Our editorial & corrections policy explains how reports are verified, how fixes propagate through the database pipeline, and expected turnaround. Material data refreshes and trust-surface changes are listed on the public data changelog; machine-readable registry updates are also available via RSS. We never backfill or invent changelog entries.

Data Accuracy Commitment

PlainDiscipline presents published data from Public Citizen and FSMB without modification. Disciplinary rates, rankings, and physician counts are displayed as published in the source materials. We do not compute our own disciplinary rates or editorialize about board effectiveness.

Limitations

• State discipline rates are aggregate, state-level figures, not individual physician records. Individual records shown elsewhere on PlainDiscipline are public federal exclusions from the HHS OIG LEIE (covering all provider types), not state board-discipline files. For an individual physician’s board-discipline history, use the state medical board’s license-lookup tool.
• PlainDiscipline does not use the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) as a data source: individual NPDB records are not publicly accessible, and we do not ingest or cross-reference NPDB data anywhere on this site. If you are a physician, HRSA's NPDB offers a self-query option for your own record.
• Rates reflect reported and recorded actions, undiscovered misconduct is not counted.
• State medical boards vary significantly in resources, staffing, reporting practices, and enforcement culture, making direct state-to-state comparisons imperfect.
• To verify an individual physician's license status, contact the relevant state medical board directly.
• PlainDiscipline is not affiliated with Public Citizen, FSMB, or any state medical board.

Data reuse and citation

• CSV download (live): state-board-statistics.csv - state-level serious disciplinary action rates matching the national statistics page. License: CC0 for this derived file; cite PlainDiscipline and the underlying Public Citizen / FSMB sources.
• Embeds: charts and tables on state, specialty, and action-type pages are rendered HTML with named sources. We do not offer third-party iframe embeds today. Reuse derived counts with attribution.
• Commercial data licensing, API access, and bulk extracts beyond the published CSV are not activated - contact us if you need a custom arrangement.

Monetization and partnership readiness

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