Each year in the Spring issue of the Forum, we present selected data from the previous year. This year we provide detailed information about licensed physician assistants (visit the Data Center at www.ncmedboard.org for a similar table that shows physicians by county, as well as additional data that could not be printed due to limited space). Also this year we present information about the sources of complaints and the primary nature of the allegation (see Top 20 Types of Complaints). The number of licensed physicians is not displayed below, but data for 2009 are: 31,278 total (22,392 in-state, 8,886 out-of-state). In addition there were 2,340 residents in 2009.

This page also includes summary data about all public actions, disciplinary or otherwise, taken in 2009. "Causes of Action" describes the types of cases that led to each action. The total number of causes is not equal to the total number of actions because a typical action has more than one cause. A case that involved diversion of prescription drugs for personal use, for example, would be categorized as both "prescribing issues" and "alcohol/substance abuse."

Click on the following link for the full 'Year in Review' as it was published in this issue of the Forum.