State keeps patients in the dark on doctors disciplined elsewhere

Some Hawaii doctors have been able to practice here for two years or more without state intervention after having their medical licenses revoked or suspended in other states, a six-month investigation by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has found.

And the sanctions those doctors received — public information in the states that imposed them —typically are not reflected on Hawaii’s website of physician profiles, likely keeping isle patients in the dark about such disciplinary action.

The newspaper’s investigation reveals a state regulatory system afflicted by a lack of transparency and a slow disciplinary process involving Hawaii-licensed physicians sanctioned in other states.

Ailing Oversight index

» Inaction fails patients

» Action in reciprocal discipline cases reveals stark differences among states

» Databases, legal records, websites used to gather details on doctors

» Database: Search discipline cases

» Policies block out full picture

» Past convictions left out of licensing procedure

» Medical board defends impartiality despite physicians’ outsize presence

» Remedies hard to prescribe

» Compact boosts access to licenses

» Where Hawaii’s licensed physicians are based