At the September 21, 2011 meeting of the North Carolina Medical Board Licensing Committee, Board members discussed the creation of a new form of documentation to address licensee conduct referred to as the Letter of Advice (LOA). The LOA would serve as a mechanism for individual Board members to communicate with licensees regarding concerns they may have as a result of a licensee’s application or renewal – a concern that was not significant enough to warrant a Board interview or deny licensure or renewal.

While the currently proposed criteria for the new Letter of Advice state that this correspondence is in no way disciplinary or reportable, and is similar to verbal communication between a Board member and licensee – it is planned that the correspondence will be vetted by the Board’s legal department and will remain in a licensee’s file for future reference if necessary.

NCMS staff attended this meeting and spoke out against the creation of a Letter of Advice.  If you’d like to review the currently proposed criteria for the Letter of Advice, click here to view the agenda from this week’s meeting. 

The Board has tabled this discussion, to be continued at their November 2011 meeting in order to allow time for the LOA criteria to be revised.