The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) licenses and regulates nurses to ensure they comply with all applicable laws and rules. As an integral part of its responsibilities under state law, the BON receives and investigates complaints against licensees and initiates disciplinary action if needed. Disciplinary proceedings can have serious repercussions for your nursing license. Therefore, if you receive a complaint against your license, we urge you to seek assistance from an experienced nursing license defense lawyer.
The Texas BON recently released its FY 2023 Enforcement Report, which summarizes all the disciplinary and enforcement proceedings it took during FY 2023. Here is a summary of the most important findings in the annual report.
Involvement of Licensed Nurses in Disciplinary Proceedings
First, the annual report reveals that only a few licensed nurses were involved in the disciplinary process before the BON at the end of FY 2023. There are 395,159 licensed RNs in Texas, and only 1,106 (0.28%) were involved in the disciplinary process at the end of FY 2023. Likewise, of the 102,849 LVNs, 617 (0.60%) were involved in the disciplinary process, and of the 50,540 APRNs, 138 (0.27%) were involved in the disciplinary process at the end of FY 2023.
Common Grounds for Disciplinary Complaints
In FY 2023, over half (62%) of the disciplinary complaints involved the following issues:
- Use of drugs/alcohol;
- Fitness to practice;
- Misappropriation; and/or
- Deception.
About 21% of complaints alleged nursing practice issues, although those complaints may have involved more than one concern. Other subjects of disciplinary complaints involved criminal conduct, abuse/neglect/boundaries/sexual misconduct, HIPAA or confidentiality breaches, nontherapeutic prescribing, and otherwise unclassified issues.
Opening and Closure of Cases
In FY 2023, the BON closed 19,930 cases, which was 3,810 more cases than in FY 2021 and 661 more cases than in FY 2022. The BON closed 74.9% of its cases within six months of opening them, which decreased from an average of 88.85% over the past four years.
However, in FY 2023, as has been the case in the four prior years, the BON closed fewer cases than it opened. The agency opened 20,451 new cases, which was a decrease of 736 cases from FY 2022. The increase in new cases in FY 2022 was likely due to the completion of an administrative review of renewal applications during the first ten months of 2022 using the new licensure system. Student background checks and rap back reports also significantly increased by about 26% during this period, with 5,806 reports reviewed in FY 2022 and 7,356 in FY 2023.
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The trend of closing fewer cases than those opening is likely due to vacant investigator positions and continued challenges and delays in obtaining records in the post-pandemic era. The BON also noted that by the end of FY 2023, the average cases per caseworker had increased by 20.6% to 158 cases per investigator.
Disciplinary Action Resolutions
The percentage of disciplinary complaints that resulted in formal discipline for license holders increased only slightly from FY 2022 to FY 2023, from 8.1% to 8.2%.
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Furthermore, the number of informal conferences and mediations slightly decreased. The BON held 13 informal conferences and 99 mediations in FY 2023. The State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) held 34 contested hearings in disciplinary matters in FY 2023.
Finally, the April 2024 Texas Board of Nursing Bulletin listed 201 disciplinary actions, representing only 0.039% of Texas-licensed nurses. As of February 29, 2024, the BON reported that 99.74% of RNs, 99.4% of LVNs, and 99.73% of APRNs were without discipline.
We Are Here to Defend You Before the BON
When the BON notifies you that you are the subject of a complaint, you may not know what to do first. If you are in this situation, your first call should be to a nursing license defense attorney. We stand ready to represent your interests and defend you against the allegations you are facing. Call us today at (512) 856-6596 to reach the offices of Bertolino LLP or contact us online.
Call or text (512) 476-5757 or complete a Case Evaluation form
