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About UCompareHealthCare Doctor Reports

How to interpret the information provided in the UCHC Doctor QuickCheck Report:

Doctor Locations:

Where the doctor is located, with contact information. This information may be important to you if you need to find a Doctor based on transportation or you have difficulty with mobility. You might call the doctor if you have questions about location, access, medical plan coverage, appointments and other information that may be helpful to you.

Every medical doctor licensed in the United States must complete 4 years of undergraduate school, 4 years of medical school, and 3 to 8 years of internship and residency, depending on the specialty selected. A few medical schools now offer a combined undergraduate and medical school program that lasts 6 years rather than the usual 8 years. We provide the medical school from which the physician graduated.

Postgraduate training prepares physicians for the independent practice of medicine in a specialty. This training may include an internship, residency program and fellowship. Most States require U.S. medical school graduates to complete one year of postgraduate training. International medical graduates must complete two years of postgraduate training. This section will list, in part or in whole, where the physician did his or her residency training, internship and fellowship if available.

The date the physician graduated may be important to you as it will provide a reasonable reference as to the time the physician has been practicing medicine. This time would be inclusive of internship and residency programs.

Specialty Certification:

Following medical school, physicians generally choose a specific area or "specialty" of medicine, such as cardiology. Physicians can take a board certification exam in their specialty to indicate they have completed a higher standard of educational training, though it is not required in order to practice medicine. If UCHC was able to obtain Board Certification information from public sources we indicate that by inserting the word "yes" under Board Certification. If UCHC was not able to obtain Board Certification information from public sources then we indicate that by inserting the word "unknown". The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is an organization that is considered the "Gold Standard" of certification in a medical specialty. Please note that many valid certifying specialty boards do not participate in the American Board of Medical Specialties (1-866-ASK-ABMS or www.abms.org) and actual verification of a physician's board certification is best accomplished by contacting the individual certifying specialty board.

Exclusions Public Actions:

UCHC obtains this data from both the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the state medical board in which the physician practices in.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) lists individuals who have been barred from participating in federally funded healthcare programs. This is known as exclusion.

There are several reasons for exclusion, including:

• Conviction relating to fraud
• Misdemeanor conviction relating to controlled substances
• License revocation by the State Medical Board
• Surrender of a medical license while formal disciplinary actions are proceeding
• Any exclusion from any federal or state health programs
• Claims for excessive charges, fraud, or kickbacks
• Failure to report required information to various state and or government agencies
• Failure to grant immediate access for various inspections
• Failure to take corrective action on issues found during inspections
• Default of health education loans or scholarship obligations

State Medical Board public action data is provided, if it is available, for the state in which the physician practices. UCompareHealthCare makes every effort to ensure that this data is up to date in accordance with what is reported by the state medical board. The scope of this data varies by state, but generally it covers actions inclusive of:

1. Actions taken by the State Medical Board
2. Actions taken by Hospitals
3. Criminal convictions
4. Administrative actions

If a physician has an action, please read the attached PDF to determine its nature. An action is not necessarily the result of wrong doing or negligence.

We do not report malpractice claims. However, if a claim of malpractice is included in the state medical board action documents then those claims will be reported. If criminal convictions are available we will report them as well.