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Chief medical examiner seeks $3.5M supplemental to retain staff, restore national accreditation
Summary
Doctors from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told a legislative panel they have corrected longstanding deficiencies, reached 90% of cases completed within 90 days, hired new staff, and requested a $3.5 million supplemental appropriation to sustain staffing and accreditation.
Dr. Eric Pfeiffer, chief of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), told a legislative budget committee the agency has corrected deficiencies that led to a loss of National Association of Medical Examiners accreditation in 2009 and is ready to invite NAME to re-inspect the office.
"We plan to invite the inspection team from NAME back maybe March or May and have our agency reaccredited," Pfeiffer said, adding the agency has met the national benchmark of completing 90% of cases within 90 days since August after filling physician staff vacancies.
Pfeiffer said OCME has expanded its staff and capabilities: the office has about 134 full-time equivalent positions, roughly 20 forensic physicians, 40 investigators, four forensic anthropologists and other laboratory staff. He said the agency now performs about 8,000 examinations per year, approximately 4,000 of which receive surgical autopsy, and that a CT scanner and fellowship program have reduced time and improved capacity.
The chief requested a $3,500,000 supplemental appropriation to cover salaries for physicians and related costs the agency has already incurred after recent hires. Committee members noted the office carried one-time balances of about $1,600,000 from unfilled positions; Pfeiffer said those carryover funds are largely spent and the supplemental is needed to avoid losing newly hired pathologists to higher-paying markets.
Pfeiffer warned that without continued funding the office would not sustain its turnaround: "If we were to lose those pathologists, that's fundamentally what's going to happen ... they'll go to places that will pay for them," he said. Committee members also asked about the accreditation process and whether accreditation imposes hiring or diversity mandates; Pfeiffer said NAME's checklist focuses on operational standards and timeliness, not hiring ideology.
Other points in the presentation included: the agency's $2,000,000 estimate for a new case-management system, a roughly $1,000,000 per CT scanner cost (two instruments between offices were discussed), and a small federal three-year grant of "less than $150,000 per year" to create a cold-case prosecutorial unit prioritized on missing and murdered Indigenous women. Pfeiffer emphasized that accreditation supports recruitment, courtroom credibility and statewide public-safety partners who rely on timely forensic results.
No formal legislative action was taken during the presentation. Committee members pressed for the NAME checklist and additional documentation; Pfeiffer agreed to provide the checklist and follow up on specific items.
