From the North West Arkansas News
The Arkansas State Medical Board didn’t uncover a new doctor’s April drug arrest in Kansas because he already held an inactive Arkansas medical license and renewals do not require fresh criminal background checks, board officials said Wednesday.
Crossett police officers arrested Paul J. Loop, former psychiatrist at the Ashley County Medical Center, on Dec. 3 after they found crack cocaine hidden in a Tylenol bottle in his pocket.
He joined the Crossett hospital’s staff in late November after resigning Aug. 31 from the Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Topeka, Kan.
A Topeka police officer arrested Loop just before 8 a.m. on April 17 after he found the doctor in a car sleeping next to drug paraphernalia.
Russ Sword, chief executive officer of the Ashley County Medical Center, was unaware that fresh criminal background checks are not required on renewals and questions the board’s process.
“Hospitals depend on the medical board,” Sword said. “If they don’t do anything, what is the point?” Loop, 46, graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1993. He first earned a state medical license in 1997, according to Peggy Cryer, executive secretary for the Arkansas State Medical Board.
The state board received an application to renew his license on Sept. 26.
Instead of a repeat background check, physicians renewing their licenses are only required to pay a fee and report whether they’ve been arrested or convicted of a crime.
Cryer said Loop reported that he had never been arrested on the renewal form.
Bill Trice, the state board’s attorney, said it’s logistically impossible to run background checks every time a doctor renews his license. There are about 10,000 doctors in Arkansas who must renew their licenses annually.
Also, the Arkansas State Police, the agency required by law to run the checks, does not have the capability to store fingerprints from year to year, Trice said.
“Can you see 10,000 physicians traipsing down to State Police headquarters to do a fingerprint card every year ?” Trice said. “We aren’t trying to stop doctors from practicing.” Lisa Robin, senior vice president with the Federation of State Medical Boards, said no state requires fresh background checks during license renewal because of the logistical challenges.
In fact, only half the states in the country have authority by law to conduct background searches at all, Robin said.
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