The state agency that oversees professionals 48 disciplines–from physicians to veterinarians to cosmetologists–cannot keep up with complaints and does not do a good job meting out discipline, according to a state audit released Wednesday.
The report by state Auditor General William Holland said the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation has let consumer complaints lie dormant for more than a year, allows fines to go uncollected for months and has workers who put telephones and pagers to personal use.
Some of the problems were found in earlier state audits.
“It’s not a good system,” Holland said of the department’s practices. “We continue to see a deficiency . . . to investigate, prosecute and discipline those people in a profession that are irresponsible.”
Department officials acknowledged problems but said they were being corrected. Officials also said none of the problems uncovered in the audit put the public at risk.
“It’s not as if there is some doctor out there whacking off the wrong leg,” said Tommy Brewer, the agency’s director of enforcement. “That somehow or another the public is being put at risk is not true.”
The 17 findings of the audit, which examined the department’s activities from July 1993 to July 1995, were issues that officials are addressing or have corrected, said Brewer.
“I don’t think they found anything we’re not aware of. Of all the things we do, all the cases we handle, not everybody is up to snuff. We don’t excuse that. We do a good job. Can we do a better job? Yes, we can,” Brewer said.
The department has instituted a timeline to make sure that cases are investigated and prosecuted on time, said Brewer, adding that supervisors now review cases every 60 days to make sure employees are not falling behind.
Staffers are being trained to better record disciplinary orders issued by the department, and a stringent notification system to make sure fines are paid on time is proving successful, Brewer said.
He also said that a printout of employees’ use of pagers and phones is made monthly, and employees are supposed to reimburse the department for personal calls.
The department concurred with almost all of the findings of the audit, which painted a picture of an agency where cases fall through the cracks and daily operations are shoddy.
Of the random cases reviewed by auditors, 12 of 25 medical cases sat dormant for 30 to 490 days after a complaint was filed. No followup or investigative activity was done during those periods, the audit said.
Gary Clayton is executive vice president of the Illinois Association of Realtors, which moved from the oversight of the Department of Professional Regulation to a smaller state commission last summer.
“One reason that we chose to propose legislation to move (was that) we wanted a higher level of enforcement (and) a higher level of service,” said Clayton.
State Sen. Vince Demuzio (D-Carlinville) last month requested a special management audit of the agency, which is under way. That audit would be separate from the one released Wednesday by Holland’s office.
“This is not a witch hunt,” Demuzio said. “We just need to take a look at things.”
