Professional License Defense
Representation before Georgia licensing boards — including the Georgia Composite Medical Board, the Georgia Board of Nursing, and other professional and occupational boards — for physicians, nurses, researchers, faculty, and other licensed professionals, including matters involving hospital privileges, credentialing, and peer review.
The notice appears unexpectedly.
It doesn't matter how long you've practiced or how careful you've been — a board complaint puts your license, and everything built on top of it, in question, often with very little warning.
What You're Likely Thinking
- What happens now?
- Should I respond right away, or wait?
- Who will find out about this?
- Could I lose my ability to practice?
- Could this affect my hospital privileges, credentialing, or trigger a report to the National Practitioner Data Bank?
- What should I avoid saying or doing?
There are real answers to these questions — but they depend on your board, your license, and the specifics of the complaint.
Perspective
Licensing boards are administrative bodies, not courts, and they evaluate complaints differently than a judge or jury would. Investigators typically build a file and form a preliminary view before a licensee ever responds — which is why an early, well-organized response can change how the rest of the matter unfolds. Boards also weigh patterns more heavily than isolated incidents, and pay close attention to whether a response acknowledges the process appropriately without conceding facts the board has not yet established.
Consent orders resolve the large majority of complaints that aren't dismissed outright, and understanding a specific board's real appetite for hearings versus negotiated resolutions shapes strategy from the outset — informed by more than twenty years spent evaluating professional conduct and regulatory compliance at research institutions.
For physicians and other hospital-credentialed professionals, a board complaint rarely stays confined to the board. Hospital peer review and credentialing processes often move in parallel, and certain board actions and peer review outcomes trigger mandatory reporting to the National Practitioner Data Bank — a separate consequence that can outlast the underlying complaint. Understanding how these systems interact is part of the strategy from day one, not an afterthought once the board matter is resolved.
How We Proceed
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Early assessment of the complaint and the board's likely process
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Review of records, files, and any correspondence already exchanged
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Analysis of the specific board's rules and disciplinary procedure
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Preparation for interviews, depositions, or investigative meetings
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Written responses and formal submissions to the board
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Hearing preparation, where a matter proceeds that far
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Coordination with hospital credentialing, peer review, or medical staff processes, where applicable
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Planning for resolution, consent order, or formal hearing, where applicable
What Happens Next
Steltzer Law's approach to every matter follows the same method — Assess, Prepare, Navigate. For a licensing board complaint, that method moves through this specific sequence:
Complaint Received
The board opens a file and typically requests a written response. How that response is framed shapes the board's view of the entire matter.
Investigation
The board reviews records, testimony, and sometimes conducts an interview. Many matters are resolved favorably at this stage, before any formal hearing.
Board Review or Hearing
The board considers the investigation's findings and determines whether discipline is warranted, and if so, what form it takes.
Resolution
Outcomes range from dismissal to consent orders to formal discipline — each with different implications for your license and your practice going forward.
Not every matter follows this exact sequence. The stages above describe the process in general terms — your board's specific rules govern your matter.
Questions Clients Often Ask
What should I do first?
Avoid submitting a written response until you understand how it may be used. In most matters, involving counsel before that first response is the right move.
Should I speak with investigators before speaking with counsel?
In most matters, understanding your position before any interview changes how it goes. What you say early often becomes part of the board's record.
Will my employer or institution be notified?
Notification depends on your specific board's rules and your employer's own reporting obligations — worth mapping out before you respond, not after.
Will this be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank?
Certain board actions and hospital peer review decisions trigger mandatory NPDB reporting, which can affect credentialing and hospital privileges well beyond the underlying board matter. Whether a specific action is reportable depends on the type of action and the reporting entity — assessed early in every matter.
Could this affect my hospital privileges or credentialing?
A board complaint and a hospital peer review process are separate systems, but they often move on parallel tracks and can influence one another. Knowing how the two interact, and which is likely to move first, is part of the early strategy.
Should I resign or stop practicing?
This is rarely the first move, and it can carry consequences of its own. It's a decision to make with full information, not before it.
How long can the process take?
Timelines vary by board, from a few months to well over a year, depending on the complexity of the complaint.
What information should I preserve?
Patient or client records, correspondence, and any documentation related to the complaint should be preserved exactly as they exist.
If you've received a board complaint or notice, the earliest conversations matter most.
Schedule a confidential consultation before you respond.
Certain Social Security Disability and Professional License Defense matters are handled through Jeffrey D. Steltzer's Of Counsel relationship with Jones Law Group, a separate law firm. Additional information is available on the About page.