Proposal To Double Cost Of Medical Licenses Advances
From the Associated Press
Illinois officials and the physicians they regulate are at odds over how to fairly cover the costs of a watchdog unit that investigates complaints against doctors.
The two sides have offered competing proposals to fix the finances of the struggling medical unit of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which was forced to lay off more than half of its employees last month when the legislature declined to bail it out.
Gov. Pat Quinn's administration wants to more than double doctors' licensing fees and to borrow millions of dollars, a proposal a House committee approved by a 7-5 vote on Monday and now moves to the full House.
"We are looking at a long-term horizon," Manuel Flores, secretary of financial and professional regulation, told the House Executive Committee. "We want to make sure that we have the resources in place to expedite licenses and do a better job of investigating and disciplining our doctors who have breached the public trust."
But doctors strongly disagree, saying taxpayers' dollars should be used to restore the money previous administrations used to finance other state programs.
During the General Assembly's lame-duck session in December, a measure that could have prevented the layoffs of 18 of the 26 employees in the department's medical unit passed the Senate but failed in the House. The department blamed the proposal's failure on lobbying from the Illinois State Medical Society.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Associated Press
Illinois officials and the physicians they regulate are at odds over how to fairly cover the costs of a watchdog unit that investigates complaints against doctors.
The two sides have offered competing proposals to fix the finances of the struggling medical unit of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which was forced to lay off more than half of its employees last month when the legislature declined to bail it out.
Gov. Pat Quinn's administration wants to more than double doctors' licensing fees and to borrow millions of dollars, a proposal a House committee approved by a 7-5 vote on Monday and now moves to the full House.
"We are looking at a long-term horizon," Manuel Flores, secretary of financial and professional regulation, told the House Executive Committee. "We want to make sure that we have the resources in place to expedite licenses and do a better job of investigating and disciplining our doctors who have breached the public trust."
But doctors strongly disagree, saying taxpayers' dollars should be used to restore the money previous administrations used to finance other state programs.
During the General Assembly's lame-duck session in December, a measure that could have prevented the layoffs of 18 of the 26 employees in the department's medical unit passed the Senate but failed in the House. The department blamed the proposal's failure on lobbying from the Illinois State Medical Society.
Read more in our daily News Update...