Consumers interested in finding out something about any particular outpatient surgery center in California may be sadly disappointed if they head over to the state Medical Board website looking for information.

Although it’s been more than a year since the Legislature passed a law requiring the board to post a list of all the outpatient centers, their doctor-owners and other pertinent accreditation information, the board’s effort is a dismal failure, according to separate studies by Consumers Union and KPCC public radio.

Consumers Union found that only 21% of the centers they could locate on the site had even the barest information. KPCC found the same results, but also had a difficult time even finding the list on “a poorly-organized website.” Once discovered, they found it “contains a jumble of mostly incomplete records that provide little value to the public.”

KPCC looked at 100 surgery centers and found that only 14 of them even included the name of the doctor-owner. Only five listed the owner’s medical license number and nearly all lacked the requisite listing of suspended or revoked accreditation.

The Legislature passed Senate Bill 100 in October 2011, requiring the list in response to decades of complaints about the medical board. The board was initially created in 1975, after strong lobbying from the medical community, as a regulatory alternative to strong legal patient rights for holding doctors accountable.

The law has a sunset provision that compels the Legislature to review its efficacy every 10 years, a process that began on Monday. The progressive advocacy group Consumer Watchdog called for the board’s dissolution, labeling it “a political protection racket for the state's worst physicians.”

The review comes at a time when the board and the state’s doctors are under scrutiny for their role in rampant prescription drug abuse. A Los Angeles Times investigative series on the epidemic of prescription drug deaths in the state revealed that a drug monitoring database overseen by the state Attorney General’s office is barely used because of funding cutbacks.

Critics say a functioning database and outpatient center listing could facilitate a pro-active medical board that, for the most part, now relies on consumer complaints about physicians before launching investigations.

Medical Board Executive Director Linda Whitney told KPCC that the outpatient surgery center information is sparse because the board only requires accreditation information when a center comes up for renewal every three years.

So, consumers interested in having a surgical procedure might consider waiting until 2015 before researching their decision on where to have it performed.

–Ken Broder     

To Learn More:

Medical Board of California Failing to Implement New Surgery Center Law Designed to Inform Consumers (by Stephanie O’Neill, KPCC)

California Medical Board Reforms Needed (Consumers’ Union)

Do No Harm: Kill the Medical Board (by Jamie Court and Carmen Balber, San Francisco Chronicle op-ed)