This week’s cyber tip discusses two resources to help investigators conducting malpractice cases: DocInfo and DocFinder.

DocInfo

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a non-profit that represents all medical boards in the U.S. and its territories that license and discipline allopathic and osteopathic physicians. If you’ve been hired to conduct a background investigation on a physician, the FSMB’s DocInfo is an excellent and trusted resource. It has a searchable database allowing you to look up a doctor’s name in a specific state or all states to verify credentials. A user can determine where a physician is licensed, where a physician went to medical school, and whether a physician has been disciplined by a licensing board. The FSMB represents 70 medical regulatory boards. This is a trusted source for anyone conducting a background investigation on a physician.

VeryWell Health published a great blog post entitled, “How to Uncover Malpractice Suits Against a Doctor,” by Trisha Torrey. It’s well worth the read!

DocFinder

Another handy, general-public search tool for investigating physicians or health care providers is DocFinder. Made  available by the Administrators in Medicine (AIM) and launched in 1996, DocFinder was initially only a physician directory. The website now contains information on the licensing background and disciplinary actions of healthcare providers from those states that participate. Additionally, DocFinder includes physician profile information from states that have passed physician profile laws. Search in DocFinder by a specific state, name, license number, or town, or do a combined search for name and all states represented on the DocFinder server. This easily accessible tool gives accurate legal or medical advice for both investigators and the general public.

A search for Terry Smith, for example, returned 7 physicians.

You can then click on the name pertinent to your investigation and retrieve the information in a user friendly format.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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