Discipline, violations, and enforcement procedures before the Board
What the exam tests
This domain tests how the Board receives, investigates, and adjudicates complaints, and what sanctions and collateral consequences follow violations.
Core rules
- The Board may act on complaints from patients, staff, insurers, other licensees, or its own investigations. Matters may be screened, investigated, and resolved by consent order or contested hearing.
- Grounds include unlicensed practice, gross or repeated negligence, fraud, record falsification, prescribing violations, impairment, failure to cooperate, and violation of Board rules. A criminal conviction or adverse action in another state can support discipline.
- The Board may impose reprimands, probation, limitations, suspension, revocation, civil penalties, cost recovery, and conditions such as retraining or monitoring. Emergency action may be taken when continued practice poses imminent danger.
- Contested cases follow administrative due process: notice, opportunity to respond, discovery, and a hearing before an administrative law judge, with the Board making the final decision. The Board does not award malpractice damages; injured patients pursue civil remedies.
Worked example
A dentist whose license was suspended continues seeing patients and signing charts. That is unlicensed practice, not merely a renewal problem. The Board can pursue additional sanctions, and the conduct may be referred for criminal prosecution because the suspension order had not been stayed.
Traps that cost marks
A consent order is a public disciplinary resolution, not a private deal. Do not assume a malpractice settlement automatically proves a Board violation, or that a Board complaint is a lawsuit. Failure to answer Board inquiries can be a separate violation.