The executive committee of the State Board of Medical Licensure approved a petition to lift limitations on Dr. Carol Richardson’s medical practice, allowing her to pursue hospitalist and delivery work under a signed reentry-to-practice agreement.

The petition, presented by Richardson and her attorney Lauren Stimock of Evans Petrie, was approved after committee members reviewed Richardson’s practice history, a proposed reentry plan and a signed agreement setting preceptor requirements. The committee’s approval was contingent on Richardson’s compliance with that agreement and administrative follow-up by the board’s executive director.

Richardson told the committee she returned to Mississippi practice in 2017 and began providing office-based obstetrics and gynecology care at Family Healthcare Clinic in Flowood in 2019. She described continuing office procedures such as endometrial biopsies, colposcopies and long-acting reversible contraceptive insertion, and said she wants to “venture out and to do some hospitalist work” so she can deliver patients when needed and help address local shortages of OBGYNs. Lauren Stimock confirmed Richardson has signed the board’s preceptor agreement and is “fully committed” to adhering to it.

Committee members asked about Richardson’s surgical experience and how she would implement the reentry plan. Dr. Richardson said she last worked on a locums assignment in New Hampshire and discussed prior surgical experience from residency at Howard University; she told the committee she had maintained continuing medical education and board certification. Dr. Michelle Owens, an obstetrician-gynecologist and maternal-fetal medicine specialist on the committee, noted changes in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery since Richardson’s training and questioned how the reentry plan would address updated surgical techniques and emergency procedures. Dr. Rod Givens summarized Richardson’s current office-based procedures and said those tasks aligned with her stated plan to continue clinic work while taking hospital calls as a hospitalist.

Following discussion, a committee member moved to approve the petition “based on compliance with the signed agreement” to facilitate the reentry process; the motion was seconded. The committee conducted a voice vote; the chair announced the motion carried with aye votes, and no nays or abstentions were recorded. The committee directed Richardson to follow up with Executive Director Dr. Cleveland to finalize details of the return-to-practice agreement and scheduling for any required precepting.

The committee’s action grants Richardson permission to pursue the expanded scope described in the signed agreement, subject to the preceptor oversight and any administrative steps noted by board staff. The record shows the committee treated the item as a single, formal petition and recorded the approval by voice vote without a roll-call tally.

No further business was recorded during the executive committee meeting.