Professional Licensing Board

By Shawna Bertalot, CIC, ACI, WisMed Assure President

Moving is a hassle, including changing your mailing and email addresses, making sure you have notified all family, colleagues, friends, billing payees, and your professional licensing board. It is your responsibility under Wisconsin Law, and you may be penalized if you don’t do so in a timely manner.

Most physicians and advanced practice providers are not aware of the requirements to update their contact information. The Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) would like to remind licensees but obviously can’t do so if they do not have your most current contact information. Our Medical Malpractice insurance partners and defense counsel have asked that we reach out to our clients and members.

Mark Larson, defense counsel with the Milwaukee firm Gutglass, Erickson, Larson & Schneider, S.C. shared the following:

“It appears that the DSPS is now going to start penalizing providers who fail to respond quickly to inquiries even if it is due to outdated contact info. They are relying on Wis. Stat. § 440.11 that requires all licensees to notify their boards of any change in name or address within 30 days of the change, and the administrative code provisions like Wis. Adm. Code §§ MED 10.03(3)(g), NUR 7.03(1)(c) and PA 4.01(3)(f) that failure to respond to an inquiry within 30 days creates a rebuttable presumption of non-cooperation, and therefore unprofessional conduct.

I suspect that many, if not the vast majority, of licensed providers are unaware of the change of address (contact info both email and mail) requirement and/or are relying on administrative staff to deal with all licensing compliance issues. I have suggested to clients that it may be necessary to educate providers and any staff dealing with licensing to be aware of the need to very timely update changes.”

Wis. Stat. §440.11 “Communication with department” states that applicants or credential holder must notify DSPS of any change in name or address within 30 days. The 30 day requirement also applies to email address. The department or any examining board can serve any process, notice, or demand by mailing it to the last-known address of the credential holder. https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/440.pdf

Wis. Adm. Code §§ MED 10 deals with UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT and under MED 10(3)(g) LAW VIOLATIONS, ADVERSE ACTION, AND REQUIRED REPORTS TO THE BOARD says “After a request by the board, failing to cooperate in a timely manner with the board’s investigation of a complaint filed against a license holder. There is a rebuttable presumption that a credential holder who takes longer than 30 days to respond to a request of the board has not acted in a timely manner.”

Wisconsin Medical Society Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer Mark Grapentine explained this section as “kind of the catch-all for not hearing back from a physician when the department has reached out to them – you can’t just say ‘I never got anything’ even though the MEB uses email to send out their inquiries and patient complaints. The MEB’s lowest level of sanction is an administrative warning, which is considered non-discipline, is considered private, and does not show up on the DSPS credential/licensure search website. If there is a finding of something more serious that impacts patient care, failure to timely update and communicate with DSPS could be an additional charge against the license-holder as part of a larger list of charges that carries some stronger discipline. The MEB has ad hoc flexibility.”

For assistance with your insurance, please reach out to the WisMed Assure Service Team at insurance@wismedassure.org, or call 608.442.3810.