A meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners was held on Wednesday, July 19, 2008 at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex, 25 Market Street, 4th Floor Conference Center, Trenton, New Jersey. The meeting was called to order by President Mario Criscito, M.D.

PRESENT:

Board Members Cheema, Ciechanowski, Criscito, Criss, Haddad, Jordan, Lambert, Lomazow, Mendelowitz, Nussbaum, Paul, Reichman, Scott, Stanley, and Walsh.

EXCUSED

Board Members DeGregorio, Salas-Lopez, Strand, Weiss and Wheeler.

ALSO PRESENT

Assistant Attorney General Joyce; Senior Deputy Attorneys General Dick, Flanzman & Gelber, Jespersen, Levine, Ringler, and Warhaftig, and Executive Director Roeder.

STATEMENT CONCERNING THE
ANNUAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETINGS

The requirements of the "Open Public Meetings Act" have been satisfied by notice of this meeting given in the annual notice adopted by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners on September 26, 2007 which was transmitted to the ATLANTIC CITY PRESS, STAR LEDGER, CAMDEN COURIER POST, ASBURY PARK PRESS, BERGEN RECORD and the TRENTON TIMES, all on the 1st day of October 2007.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MINUTES THE BOARD, UPON MOTION MADE AND SECONDED, VOTED TO APPROVE THE JUNE 11, 2008 OPEN BOARD MINUTES.

MINUTES THE BOARD, UPON MOTION MADE AND SECONDED, VOTED TO APPROVE THE APRIL 29, 2008 ELECTROLOGISTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE PUBLIC MINUTES.

NEW BUSINESS

1. ELECTIONS

Prior to conducting the election, Dr. Criscito took a moment to express his gratitude to each and every one of the Board members. According to Dr. Crisctio, it has been both a pleasure and an honor to serve as the Board President. Any success that he achieved during his tenure was because of the efforts and hard work of the Board members, the Deputy Attorneys General, and the Board office staff. It has been his honor to have the rare opportunity to serve on the Board and to be given the chance to make a difference in the lives of the citizens of New Jersey. While there appears to be an ever increasing number of demands on the Board, he believed that the Board has met many of those challenges. Over the past year, he continued, the Board has successfully passed regulations concerning cultural competency training, post graduate training for residents, provided a clearer definition of behavior that constitutes sexual misconduct for athletic trainers, established the requirements for the declaration of death by neurological criteria that are up to date and state of the art, continued to grapple with the medical malpractice issues and offered its expertise in commenting on various pieces of legislation that impact the delivery of health care services to patients across our State. He recognized that there is still much more work to be done, but he was sure that together, the Board would continue to move forward addressing these issues. He hoped that the newly elected officers would continue to receive the on-going support of the Board members that was offered to him during his tenure as President. Again, he thanked everyone for their vote of confidence and hard work -- all of which made his job as President an easier one. It has been a pleasure working with each Board member both personally and professionally and he looked forward to building on their relationships and successes in protecting the health, safety and welfare for the citizens of New Jersey.

The Board applauded Dr. Criscito thanking him for his service as Board President.

Board members were reminded that at the June Board meeting, the nominating committee recommended the following slate of officers.

President - Paul Mendelowitz, M.D.
Vice President - Karen Criss, R.N., C.N.M.
Secretary - Paul Jordan, M.D.
Treasurer - Kathryn Lambert, D.O.

Executive Director Roeder conducted the elections and opened the floor to additional nominations. Hearing none, a motion was made and seconded closing the nominations.

THE BOARD, UPON MOTION MADE AND SECONDED, VOTED TO ELECT THE FOLLOWING:

PRESIDENT PAUL MENDELOWITZ, M.D.
VICE PRESIDENT KAREN CRISS, R.N., C.N.M.
SECRETARY PAUL JORDAN, M.D.
TREASURER KATHRYN LAMBERT, D.O.

Dr. Mendelowitz expressed his gratitude to Dr. Criscito for his sacrifice and service to the Board and expressly acknowledged and appreciated how he always maintained his charm and sense of humor over the past year. Dr. Mendelowitz also thanked the Board members for their confidence in him in electing him as President. He was sure that he spoke for all the new officers in pledging their support to continue to work together in a professional and collegial manner always moving in a positive direction in the protection of health and safety for the people of New Jersey.

2. SENATE BILL – 1939

Seeks to extend the Medical Malpratice Liability Insurance Premium Assistance Fund and the collection of the annual surcharges for an additional five years.

THE BOARD, UPON MOTION MADE AND SECONDED, VOTED TO SUPPORT THE LEGISLATION. IT NOTED THAT THE ASSISTANCE FUND PROVIDED A FINANCIAL BENEFIT FOR THOSE IN CERTAIN CATEGORIES WHERE THE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE PREMIUMS ARE HIGH. THE BOARD, HOWEVER, FURTHER NOTED THAT THIS IS ONLY ONE ASPECT OF A SOLUTION TO THE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CRISIS AND THE LEGISLATORS WERE ENCOURAGED TO FURTHER REVIEW A MORE COMPREHENSIVE TORT REFORM THAT MIGHT PROVIDE A MORE PERMANENT SOLUTION TO THE OVERALL PROBLEMS TO THE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ISSUES. IT WAS FURTHER SUGGESTED THAT IN SECTION 3C THE BOARD BE GIVEN MORE DISCRETIONARY POWER TO DETERMINE WHETHER IT IS APPROPRIATE TO GRANT A REQUEST BASED ON THE DE MINIMIS NATURE OF THE ACTION AND/OR THE REMOTENESS IN TIME OF THE EVENT. THIS MAY ALSO INCLUDE MORE DISCRETION IN DECIDING TO GRANT THE REQUEST EVEN IF THE DISCIPLINARY ACTION MIGHT INCLUDE BEHAVIOR THAT DIRECTLY IMPACTS PATIENT CARE.

3. HIGH/LOW AGREEMENTS

Attached was a copy of a letter from the "NJ Physicians Group" asking the Board to reconsider whether a payment made pursuant to a high/low agreement when there is a defense verdict should be published on the Physician Profile. A similar letter requesting the same was received from the law firm of Britcher, Leone, & Roth, LLC.

It was also noted for the record subsequent to the mailing of materials to the Board that similar letters requesting the same relief were also received from the law firms of O’Connor, Parsons & Lane, LLC and Breslin and Breslin, PA.

The Board recognized that it does not have much discretion in the statutory language of what the Board must post on the Physician Profile, namely, what is reported to the Board. In this instance, federal law does not require that these types of payments be reported, while it appears that under the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance regulations, it is reportable and indeed, it is reported to the Medical Practitioner Review Panel. The Board also noted that the data bank policy book states that it is not reportable and it interprets it as something outside the settlement of the medical malpractice claim.

The Board further recognized that it does not have the statutory authority to grant the relief sought. But with that said, it did believe that when there is a finding of no liability, even with the payment made under a high/low agreement, it should not be reported to the Board (and therefore posted on the Physician Profile) as these payments are not the type of payments that the intent of the legislation seems to address. Posting these payments on the profile would appear to be fundamentally unfair and does not provide useful information to the consumer.

THE BOARD, UPON MOTION MADE AND SECONDED, VOTED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF BANKING AND INSURANCE CONCERNING ITS POSITION ON THIS ISSUE AND PERHAPS WORKING TOWARDS A REGULATORY CHANGE THAT WOULD ELIMINATE THE REPORTING OF THESE TYPES OF PAYMENTS.

OLD BUSINESS

Nothing Scheduled.

INFORMATIONAL

PUBLIC COMMENT

Respectfully submitted,

Paul C. Mendelowitz, M.D., President

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