Disciplinary Actions by Specialty & Provider Category

The 85 specialty and provider-category labels recorded in the source data, ranked by the number of serious disciplinary and exclusion actions. Per-physician rates are not available at the category level, so categories are compared by total action count rather than a per-1,000 rate.

# Specialty / Category Actions recorded
1 Licensed Healthcare Professional 20,737
2 Nursing 13,562
3 Physician 7,600
4 Healthcare Employee 5,389
5 Individual (Unaffiliated) 4,650
6 Business Owner/Executive 4,362
7 Skilled Nursing Facility 4,215
8 Hospital 2,389
9 Durable Medical Equipment 2,286
10 Pharmacy 2,239
11 Private Entity 1,941
12 Chiropractic 1,758
13 Home Health Agency 1,340
14 Clinic 1,279
15 Dental 1,208
16 Transportation Company 793
17 Intermediate Care Facility 792
18 Other Business 621
19 Therapist 619
20 Mental Health Facility 560
21 Counseling 558
22 OWNER/OPERATOR 536
23 Psychology 510
24 Podiatry 442
25 OSTEOPATHY 363
26 EMPLOYEE 313
27 Laboratory 275
28 NURSE/NURSES AIDE 245
29 HEALTH CARE AIDE 222
30 PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT 195
31 STATE GOV'T 120
32 BUSINESS MANAGER 110
33 PHYSICAL THERAPIST 99
34 AMBULANCE COMPANY 93
35 ACUPUNCTURIST 90
36 OPTOMETRY 81
37 MEDICAL GROUP 77
38 TECHNICIAN 71
39 EMERGENCY MED TECH 55
40 RECIPT/BENEFICIARY 42
41 ACCOUNT/BOOKKPR/AUDI 38
42 PARAMEDIC TECHNICIAN 37
43 BILLING SERVICE CO 37
44 OPTICIAN 36
45 REHAB FACILITY - GEN 33
46 SOCIAL WORKER 30
47 ADMINISTRATOR 29
48 GENERAL PRACTICE 28
49 MANAGEMENT SVCS CO 27
50 OTHER CONTRACTOR 25
51 DRUG COMPANY/SUPLIER 25
52 COUNSELOR 24
53 ADULT HOME 24
54 SALES/MARKET/RETAIL 23
55 OPTICAL PRACTICE 23
56 OFFICER/EXECUT/BOARD 23
57 EMPLOYEE - GRADE UNK 23
58 DOCTOR OWNED ENTITY 23
59 CLERK/OTHER CLERICAL 20
60 LOCAL GOV'T 19
61 TRIBAL AGENCY 18
62 CONSULTING FIRM 18
63 AUDIOLOGIST 18
64 EMPLOYEE - 14 & BELO 16
65 OPTOMETRIC PRACTICE 15
66 RADIOLOGY FACILITY 14
67 NIH 13
68 ACF 12
69 RADIOLOGY 10
70 OSTEOPATHIC PRAC 8
71 GOVERNMENT CONTRACTO 8
72 FAMILY PRACTICE 8
73 CONSULTANT 8
74 COMPTROLLER 7
75 INTERNAL MEDICINE 6
76 EMPLOYEE - MILITARY 6
77 SURGERY 5
78 RURAL HEALTH CLINIC 5
79 LAWYER 5
80 GOVT EMP(STATE/LOC) 5
81 CONTRACTOR 5
82 PAIN MANAGEMENT 4
83 NEUROLOGY 4
84 MEDICAID MANAGED CAR 4
85 HEMATOLOGY 4

Source: Public Citizen Health Research Group analysis of state medical board and federal exclusion records (2021-2023). Categories reflect the specialty or provider-type label recorded in the source data; per-physician rates are available at the state level, where physician-count denominators exist.

Discipline data is derived from proportional analysis of national aggregates. Individual case data is maintained by state medical boards. This information is for educational purposes only.