Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist did not meet all the requirements needed to keep his medical license active, even though he gave paperwork to Tennessee officials indicating he had, his office acknowledged Tuesday.
Tennessee requires licensed doctors to complete 40 hours of continuing medical education every two years. Frist, a heart-lung surgeon considering a 2008 presidential run, submitted a license renewal form to the Tennessee Health Department stating he has fulfilled that requirement.
A Frist spokesman said the senator is working to clear up the problem and has asked the state Board of Medical Examiners if corrective steps are necessary.
"As a result of a change in Tennessee's regulations several years after Dr. Frist came to the Senate, he may be required to complete additional continuing medical education hours," spokesman Matt Lehigh said in a statement. "A representative of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners has been contacted, and Dr. Frist will meet every requirement of the Board."
George Eckles of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, who was contacted by The Tennessean, said he hasn't been notified of any problems with Frist, but the medical director and office staff usually investigate possible problems before bringing them to the board.
"Generally speaking, the question is, is this an oversight?" Eckles said. "This is a new rule that has just gone into effect ? however, if it turned out to be willful misrepresentation, that would be certainly something that implies dishonesty or lying about credentials. We would have a different attitude about that, and that would likely come before the board in a hearing."
Approval for an applicant who hasn't fulfilled license requirements would probably be delayed until the problem was corrected, he said.
Dan Warlick, a Nashville lawyer who represents doctors before the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, said a case like Frist's probably would be taken seriously.
"They have been routinely revoking licenses for physicians who have misrepresented to the board what they have done. Medicine changes. If you're telling them you're keeping up, and you're not, that would be a very significant problem for the board to have to deal with."
Lehigh said in a statement that Frist independently keeps abreast of medical developments. "Dr. Frist regularly speaks with physicians on the cutting edge of medical research, reads numerous medical journal articles, and attends medical meetings."
Tennessee officials set the continuing medical education requirement in 2002. Starting with renewal applications filed in January 2005, doctors had to have completed 40 hours of education in the two years preceding their filing.
A renewal application Frist filed in February, signed on his behalf by his accountant, mentions the continuing education requirement, but Lehigh said Frist may have been unaware of the change.
Courses or programs are supposed to follow guidelines set by the American Medical Association or the American Academy of Family Physicians. Approved training generally includes attending accredited conferences or workshops and seminars.
Tennessee doctors are required to retain proof that they participated in such programs in case the Board of Medical Examiners audits them. Doctors do not have to submit such evidence when they renew their license every two years.
Frist is retiring from the Senate at the end of the year. As a senator, he doesn't maintain a medical practice but routinely emphasizes his experience as a doctor.
Frist recently gave blood-pressure tests to Iowans on a visit to the state that holds the first presidential caucuses. He also keeps the letters "MD" next to his name on his Senate office door and has been known to keep a doctor's bag and lab coat on hand. He has aided accident victims and sick tourists and has gone on medical missions to Africa.
He was criticized last year for entering the debate over Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed. Frist viewed a videotape of her, then questioned her doctors' diagnosis. An autopsy confirmed their judgment.
State law says that doctors who fail to do their continuing medical education "will be subject to disciplinary action."
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