Rhode Island General Laws
Chapter 5-37 - Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline
Section 5-37-5.1. - Unprofessional conduct.

§ 5-37-5.1. Unprofessional conduct.
The term “unprofessional conduct” as used in this chapter includes, but is not limited to, the following items or any combination of these items and may be further defined by regulations established by the board with the prior approval of the director:
(1) Fraudulent or deceptive procuring or use of a license or limited registration;
(2) All advertising of medical business that is intended or has a tendency to deceive the public;
(3) Conviction of a felony; conviction of a crime arising out of the practice of medicine;
(4) Abandoning a patient;
(5) Dependence upon controlled substances, habitual drunkenness, or rendering professional services to a patient while the physician or limited registrant is intoxicated or incapacitated by the use of drugs;
(6) Promotion by a physician or limited registrant of the sale of drugs, devices, appliances, or goods or services provided for a patient in a manner as to exploit the patient for the financial gain of the physician or limited registrant;
(7) Immoral conduct of a physician or limited registrant in the practice of medicine;
(8) Willfully making and filing false reports or records in the practice of medicine;
(9) Willfully omitting to file or record, or willfully impeding or obstructing a filing or recording, or inducing another person to omit to file or record, medical or other reports as required by law;
(10) Failing to furnish details of a patient’s medical record to succeeding physicians, healthcare facility, or other healthcare providers upon proper request pursuant to § 5-37.3-4;
(11) Soliciting professional patronage by agents or persons or profiting from acts of those representing themselves to be agents of the licensed physician or limited registrants;
(12) Dividing fees or agreeing to split or divide the fees received for professional services for any person for bringing to or referring a patient;
(13) Agreeing with clinical or bioanalytical laboratories to accept payments from these laboratories for individual tests or test series for patients;
(14) Making willful misrepresentations in treatments;
(15) Practicing medicine with an unlicensed physician except in an accredited preceptorship or residency training program, or aiding or abetting unlicensed persons in the practice of medicine;
(16) Gross and willful overcharging for professional services; including filing of false statements for collection of fees for which services are not rendered, or willfully making or assisting in making a false claim or deceptive claim or misrepresenting a material fact for use in determining rights to health care or other benefits;
(17) Offering, undertaking, or agreeing to cure or treat disease by a secret method, procedure, treatment, or medicine;
(18) Professional or mental incompetency;
(19) Incompetent, negligent, or willful misconduct in the practice of medicine, which includes the rendering of medically unnecessary services, and any departure from, or the failure to conform to, the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing medical practice in his or her area of expertise as is determined by the board. The board does not need to establish actual injury to the patient in order to adjudge a physician or limited registrant guilty of the unacceptable medical practice in this subsection;
(20) Failing to comply with the provisions of chapter 4.7 of title 23;
(21) Surrender, revocation, suspension, limitation of privilege based on quality of care provided, or any other disciplinary action against a license or authorization to practice medicine in another state or jurisdiction; or surrender, revocation, suspension, or any other disciplinary action relating to a membership on any medical staff or in any medical or professional association or society while under disciplinary investigation by any of those authorities or bodies for acts or conduct similar to acts or conduct that would constitute grounds for action as described in this chapter;
(22) Multiple adverse judgments, settlements, or awards arising from medical liability claims related to acts or conduct that would constitute grounds for action as described in this chapter;
(23) Failing to furnish the board, its chief administrative officer, investigator, or representatives, information legally requested by the board;
(24) Violating any provision or provisions of this chapter or the rules and regulations of the board or any rules or regulations promulgated by the director or of an action, stipulation, or agreement of the board;
(25) Cheating on or attempting to subvert the licensing examination;
(26) Violating any state or federal law or regulation relating to controlled substances;
(27) Failing to maintain standards established by peer-review boards, including, but not limited to: standards related to proper utilization of services, use of nonaccepted procedure, and/or quality of care;
(28) A pattern of medical malpractice, or willful or gross malpractice on a particular occasion;
(29) Agreeing to treat a beneficiary of health insurance under title XVIII of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395 et seq., “Medicare Act,” and then charging or collecting from this beneficiary any amount in excess of the amount or amounts permitted pursuant to the Medicare Act;
(30) Sexual contact between a physician and patient during the existence of the physician/patient relationship;
(31) Knowingly violating the provisions of § 23-4.13-2(d); or
(32) Performing a pelvic examination or supervising a pelvic examination performed by an individual practicing under the supervision of a physician on an anesthetized or unconscious female patient without first obtaining the patient’s informed consent to pelvic examination, unless the performance of a pelvic examination is within the scope of the surgical procedure or diagnostic examination to be performed on the patient for which informed consent has otherwise been obtained or in the case of an unconscious patient, the pelvic examination is required for diagnostic purposes and is medically necessary.
History of Section.P.L. 1986, ch. 301, § 6; P.L. 1987, ch. 486, § 1; P.L. 1989, ch. 549, § 1; P.L. 1995, ch. 175, § 1; P.L. 1995, ch. 230, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 465, § 4; P.L. 2003, ch. 249, § 1; P.L. 2003, ch. 339, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 32, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 37, § 1; P.L. 2019, ch. 27, § 10; P.L. 2021, ch. 400, § 9, effective July 13, 2021; P.L. 2021, ch. 401, § 9, effective July 13, 2021; P.L. 2021, ch. 414, § 1, effective July 14, 2021; P.L. 2021, ch. 415, § 1, effective July 14, 2021.

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