Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday stepped into the turmoil surrounding the Georgia Board of Nursing, which is beset by funding shortages and a backlog of disciplinary cases.
Barry Cranfill, president of the nursing board, planned to ask his fellow board members to cut licensing fees in half in protest over a lack of state support that has led to thousands of backlogged cases. But the board put that vote on hold when Deal made a personal appeal for patience.
Deal called and invited the board to meet with him about their issues before they take the politically touchy step of cutting off millions in state revenue.
“He said that the board could do what the board wants to do, but that (cutting the fees) could alienate us from the General Assembly,” said Cranfill, adding that fee reductions remain an option.
License fees from close to 150,000 nurses across the state generate $4.2 million annually, but the Legislature takes half that money to plug holes in the state budget.
An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found complaints against nurses average 15 months to work their way to the board. Many complaints take longer.
Debbie Hackman, CEO of the Georgia Nurses Association, said she is glad Deal stepped in before the board voted.
“This issue is not going to go away,” she said. “We really need to get the resources that are being paid by the nurses that support the work (of the board).”
A date has not been set for the meeting. State agencies have just begun preparing recommendations for Deal’s budget proposal for next year, so there is plenty of time for the governor to put more money in for the licensing boards if he chooses.
Typically the board’s complaints involve nurses caught stealing narcotics from patients or allegations of medical malpractice. Sometimes the cases involve criminal charges.
Cranfill, a nurse himself, said board’s backlog puts patients in jeopardy as nurses can continue to practice while their cases languish.
Officially the board has a backlog of 3,340 complaints. Board officials do not know much about the cases, including whether they actually are waiting for board action or have already been adjudicated and are mislabeled in their problematic computer system.
Across the state, 434 nurses are on probation, but the board does not have the resources to monitor them. Instead, nurses are randomly audited to see whether they are following the terms of their probation.
Cranfill said the board has gotten more efficient in recent years but the root of the problem is financial.
The board has a $2.1 million budget and a staff of eight. By comparison, the North Carolina Board of Nursing, which regulates a similarly sized nurse population, has an annual budget of $7.3 million and a staff of 50.
The North Carolina board resolves cases in fraction of the time it takes its Georgian counterpart. Drug cases get settled within four months on average and malpractice cases are handed within 45 days, officials there said.
The Georgia board falls under Secretary of State Brian Kemp, along with boards regulating a host of other professions from sports agents to massage therapists. Cranfill met with Kemp Tuesday to discuss a fix for the board’s problems, but Kemp’s office did not share details of the talks.
“We’re not that far down the road. We’ve got our folks looking, but there is no plan per se,” said Kemp spokesman Jared Thomas.
This spring the State House created a special committee to study problems with Georgia licensing boards, including whether they had enough staff and record-keeping technology. Thomas said Kemp was meeting this week with Rep. Ed Rynders, R-Albany, who is chairing that committee, to discuss possible legislative fixes.
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