In FY ’09, the TMB received nearly 7,000 complaints. Here's a breakdown, by source: 1% insurance companies, 1% law enforcement, 2% gov’t agencies, 2% anonymous, 2% consumers, 9% health professionals, 13% TMB (from news articles etc), 27% family of patient, 43% patients.
There is an important distinction between “confidential” and “anonymous” when describing complaints received by TMB. TMB receives very few complaints that are truly anonymous –an estimated 2% to 3% per year.
The Medical Practice Act does require, however, that all information pertaining to the investigation of a complaint be *confidential*. This is interpreted to mean that the information cannot be shared with any entity outside the TMB.
When a complaint has reached the stage where the agency sets a disciplinary hearing on the issue, the complainant is asked if he/she would like to waive the confidentiality of their identity and if they do, their identity is shared with both the licensee and the board panel that presides over the disciplinary hearing.
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