Illinois Dentists: Brush Up on These Tips If You Get a Notice From IDFPR

If you’re an Illinois dentist or other medical professional, there are three things you don’t want to see when you pick up your mail: junk mail, bills, and an unexpected envelope from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). The first is annoying; the second is the cost of doing business; but the third could cost you your practice, your reputation, and your career if you don’t handle things properly.

When you open that envelope and see that a complaint has been lodged against you and/or that you are under investigation, you have a critical choice to make. You can react emotionally and angrily; with righteous indignation at the complaining patient, the Board of Dentistry, or the IDFPR. Or you can do the right things that can help you whether the storm, effectively and rationally address the issues, and resolve the matter efficiently so you can get back to treating your patients.

If you are under investigation or have been accused of violations of the Illinois Dental Practice Act (the “Act”), acting out of emotions such as fear or anger can only make the situation worse and create problems that would not have existed had you only proceeded in a calm, thoughtful, and responsive way. So, keep these tips in mind if and when you find out you are being investigated by the IDFPR:

  1. Keep calm and carry on. While your heart may start beating faster when you get a complaint or notice of investigation, don’t panic. One, panic and irrationality rarely lead to good things and wise decisions. More importantly, panic is likely unwarranted. Many if not most IDFPR complaints and investigations against Illinois dentists are resolved either after an informal hearing or without any action being taken at all. Not that you shouldn’t take the matter seriously, retain experienced license defense counsel, and respond in a complete and timely manner. But keep in mind that during a long and successful dental career, you’ll have treated hundreds if not thousands of patients for any number of reasons. A complaint can arise from a cleaning as much as it can come from a root canal, and may be based on absolutely nothing of substance. Remember that as you try to return your blood pressure to normal.
  1. Address the issue. As unfounded as you believe a patient’s complaint or the IDFPR’s basis for investigating you may be, ignorance is not bliss. Failing to respond – or responding in a dismissive and contemptuous manner – just because you believe the matter to be bogus will create problems where perhaps none existed. Don’t angrily crumple up the letter or shove it in your desk drawer. Failure to respond in a timely fashion to an initial IDFPR inquiry could subject you to IDFPR discipline, even if there was no merit to the underlying complaint. For example, “failing, within 60 days, to provide information in response to a written request by the Department in the course of an investigation” is itself a basis for revocation or suspension of a dental license under the Act.
  1. Bite your tongue. One of the worst things you can do is respond directly to or take any adverse action against the patient or other individual who filed the complaint with IDFPR. Don’t stop treating a patient without doing so in accordance with the rules governing the profession, as “abandonment of a patient” is one of the 38 specified bases for license suspension or revocation set forth in Section 23 of the Act, along with such potentially retaliatory actions as “irregularities in billing” and ”immoral conduct.”
  1. Get an IDFPR defense lawyer. The policies and procedures that govern IDFPR investigations, hearings, and imposition of sanctions against dentists and dental hygienists are unique and complicated, and often times unwritten and informal. The rules can also be terribly unfair. Even skilled and experienced attorneys who do not practice before IDFPR can find themselves at a loss when dealing with licensure issues. You are no doubt smart and know your profession well, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can or should handle an IDFPR investigation on your own. Your reputation, career and livelihood are at stake.  Now is not the time to take a flyer and hope for the best. Call an experienced Illinois dentist and health care provider license defense attorney as soon as possible after you’ve received that dreaded letter, and let them ease your fears and take the steps necessary to protect your license and your future.

Louis Fine: Your Chicago IDFPR Attorney

The moment you are contacted by IDFPR or learn that you are under investigation is the moment that you should contact me. I will immediately begin communicating with IDFRP prosecutors and work with you to develop the strategy best suited to achieving the goal of an efficient, cost-effective outcome that avoids any adverse action. Together, we will get you back to you patients and dental career.

Please give me a call at (312) 236-2433 or fill out my online form to arrange for your free initial consultation. I look forward to meeting with you.

The “F” in IDFPR Doesn’t Stand for “Fair”

You probably know that under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” While the Fifth Amendment only applies to the federal government, the Fourteenth Amendment provides identical protections from unfair deprivation of those things by a state.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is a body of the state of Illinois.

Your professional license is your property. In many respects, it is also your life and liberty. It is what allows you to fulfill your life’s work and provide for your family.

It certainly should be. But it most definitely isn’t in a number of key respects.

If you receive notice from the IDFPR that you are under investigation or that disciplinary proceedings have been commenced against you, don’t count on the IDFPR to be looking after your rights. Don’t think that you will be provided with the same due process protections that you would receive in a criminal prosecution or the broad rights to seek and obtain evidence that you would get in a civil lawsuit.

The IDFPR Can Limit Your Ability to Defend Yourself

The IDFPR’s procedural rules and practices put licensees at a sometimes crippling disadvantage in disciplinary proceedings. Perhaps the biggest example of this unfairness is the discovery process.

The process of investigating, obtaining evidence, and eliciting testimony relevant to a case – whether it be a civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding like IDFPR disciplinary hearings – is known as “discovery.” It’s how the parties find out the facts, whether they help or hurt their respective cases. It is a fundamental aspect of fairness, and if a party is not permitted to fully develop the evidence necessary to support their case or challenge the evidence obtained by the other side, it is an inherently unfair process.

In formal IDFPR disciplinary proceedings, the licensee’s ability to pursue the discovery necessary to defend themselves is extremely limited. In fact, the extent of allowable discovery is determined by the very people who are prosecuting the case. Once the Department provides names of witnesses, including the name of any individual whose complaint may be at the heart of the proceedings, a respondent cannot take their depositions unless the Department’s attorney agrees. If the Department nixes a deposition request, that means the respondent will not be able to confront that witness, learn what his testimony will be, or attack the veracity of his testimony until the actual hearing. That is manifestly unjust and leaves a respondent and their attorney fighting with one arm tied behind their back.

Similarly, if there are witnesses that the licensee wishes to subpoena for testimony, those subpoenas have to be authorized and approved by the Department. Again, the very people seeking to deprive someone of their professional license can also deprive them of their ability to defend themselves.

Hearing Officers Are Not Independent

While it is the job of IDFPR’s prosecuting attorneys to enforce professional regulations and pursue disciplinary action against licensees, it is the hearing officer’s job to preside over those proceedings fairly and objectively without favoritism or bias. The problem is the hearing officers are not independent. They are employed and paid by the IDFPR, just as the prosecuting attorneys are. Whether a hearing officer is consciously biased or not, the fact that their paychecks are coming from the very same folks who are seeking to discipline a respondent creates an implicit conflict of interest and calls into question the fairness of the entire process.

With the deck so stacked against licensees, it is absolutely crucial that you retain an experienced IDFPR defense attorney to defend your rights, your license, and your livelihood if you find yourself in the Department’s sights.

Louis Fine: Chicago Professional License Defense Attorney

The moment you are contacted by IDFPR or learn that you are under investigation is the moment that you should contact me. I will immediately begin communicating with IDFPR prosecutors and work with you to develop the strategy best suited to achieving the goal of an efficient, cost-effective outcome that avoids any adverse action. Together, we will get you back to you clients and your career.

Please give me a call at (312) 236-2433 or fill out my online form to arrange for your free initial consultation. I look forward to meeting with you.