Report 2007-038 Recommendations and Responses in 2013-041
Report 2007-038: Medical Board of California: It Needs to Consider Cutting Its Fees or Issuing a Refund to Reduce the Fund Balance of Its Contingent Fund
| Department | Number of Years Reported As Not Fully Implemented | Total Recommendations to Department | Not Implemented After One Year | Not Implemented as of 2012-041 Response | Not Implemented as of Most Recent Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Board of California | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Recommendation To: Medical Board of California
To ensure the fund balance in the medical board's contingent fund does not continue to significantly exceed the level established in law, it should, in light of its future needs, consider refunding physicians' license fees or, if successful in gaining the flexibility to adjust its fees through an amendment to existing law, consider temporarily reducing them.
Response
The Board's budget and expenditures are affected by the actions of the Administration and Legislature. In 11/12 and 12/13, the Board did not spend its full allocated budget due to vacancies, hiring freeze, Executive Orders, purchasing restrictions, personal leave program, not implementing BreEZe as anticipated, and under spending the AG's line item due to vacancies. This resulted in a reversion to the Board's fund. There is a significant amount of uncertainty projecting the Board's budget for 14/15. SB 304 (Lieu) transfers all Board investigators, medical consultants, and support staff with associated funding to DCA. The Board currently has a 7% vacancy rate and a projected 4% vacancy rate, resulting in less money in the reserve. In addition, BreEZe is functioning, so the funding allocated will be used on an ongoing basis. As projected in the Board's current fund condition, the reserve amount will be 4.1 months at the end of 13/14, 2.6 months at the end of 14/15, 0.9 month at the end of 15/16, and -0.9 month at the end of 16/17, which is under the mandated reserve of 2-4 months. The fund condition also shows $1.6 million in funding that will be allocated to the Department of Justice to support the CURES system, anticipated costs for a Northern California Operation Safe Medicine, projected costs of BreEZe, and anticipated costs of enforcement enhancements. The Board is projected to be at the required reserve amount at the end of this fiscal year and within the mandated amount in 14/15 and with the budget uncertainty with the transfer of investigators, a fee reduction is not appropriate at this time. The Board will continually monitor its reserve balance to determine if a refund or reduction in physician licensing fees is appropriate.
- California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Will Not Implement
- Response Date: October 2013