SB54.html

Article 2 of Chapter 34 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to physicians, is amended by striking subsections (a) and (e) of Code Section 43-34-24.1, relating to the independent status of the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners, and inserting in their respective places the following:
"(a) The board shall not be under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State but shall be an independent state agency attached to the Department of Community Health for administrative purposes only, as provided in Code Section 50-4-3, except that such department shall prepare and submit the budget for the board and except that agents or personnel of the office of Secretary of State, and not the board, shall conduct investigations for the board as provided in Code Section 43-34-37. The board shall not be a professional licensing board but shall have with respect to all matters within the jurisdiction of the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners as provided under this chapter the powers, duties, and functions of such licensing boards as provided in Chapter 1 of this title but shall not have investigatory powers."
"(e) The board, through the executive director, may hire investigators for the purpose of conducting investigations for the board and those persons shall be designated as investigators and have the powers, duties, and status of investigators for professional licensing boards under Code Section 43-1-5. Reserved."
SECTION 2.

Said article is further amended by striking subsections (d) and (i) of Code Section 43-34-37, relating to disciplinary actions by the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners, and inserting in their respective places the following:
"(d) The ~~executive~~ division director of the professional licensing boards is vested with the power and authority to make, or cause to be made through employees or agents of ~~the board~~ that division, such investigations as he or she, or the board, or any district attorney may deem necessary or advisable in the enforcement of this chapter including but not limited to the direction of any complaint regarding a violation of this title to the appropriate professional licensing board for action authorized under this title. Any person properly conducting an investigation on behalf of the board shall have access to and may examine any writing, document, or other material, except that as to which privilege has not been denied or deemed waived by this chapter, and which is deemed by the division director, president of the board, or ~~vice-president~~ vice president if the president is not available, to be related to the fitness of any licensee or applicant to practice medicine. The ~~executive~~ division director or the president of the board, or ~~vice-president~~ vice president if the president is not available, may issue subpoenas to compel such access. When a subpoena is disobeyed, the division director or board may apply to the superior court of the county where the person to whom the subpoena is issued resides for an order requiring obedience. Failure to comply with such order shall be punishable as for contempt of court. The results of any investigations whatsoever shall be reported only to the board, and the records of such investigations shall be kept by the board; no part of any such record shall be released for any purpose other than a hearing before the board; nor shall such records be subject to subpoena. Funds to pay for investigations conducted for the board by the division director or employees or agents thereof, including but not limited to compensation and benefits for such personnel for those investigations, shall come exclusively from funds appropriated or otherwise available to the board."
"(i) The board shall require the division director to investigate a licensee´s fitness to practice medicine if the board has received regarding that licensee a notification, pursuant to Code Section 33-3-27, of a medical malpractice judgment or settlement in excess of $100,000.00 or a notification pursuant to Code Section 33-3-27 that there have been two or more previous judgments against or settlements with the licensee relating to the practice of medicine. Every licensee shall notify the board of any settlement involving the licensee and relating to the practice of medicine in excess of $20,000.00."