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Arkansas State Medical Board meeting roundup: multiple licensure actions, show‑cause orders and PDMP reviews
Summary
At its November meeting the board approved routine minutes, granted several licenses, requested additional records in multiple investigations, and issued show‑cause orders and subpoenas for prescriber reports. The meeting included three contested hearings that produced formal orders.
The Arkansas State Medical Board’s November meeting covered a broad docket of licensing appearances, investigative briefings and three formal hearings.
The board approved routine minutes and several single‑applicant licenses. It opened or advanced multiple disciplinary investigations, voting at the meeting to subpoena medical charts, obtain PDMP and prescriber comparison reports and request expert reviews for several practitioners. Members asked staff to pursue subpoenas where records were missing and asked the Arkansas Department of Health and pharmacy regulators to follow up on outstanding data.
Three contested hearings produced board orders: a licensing agreement and AMF monitoring requirement for Joseph Gorisco; a revoke‑and‑stay with lifetime AMF monitoring and quarterly polygraphs for respiratory therapist Adam Taggart after a positive alcohol screen and AMF treatment; and a revoke‑and‑stay with practice restrictions and a $1,000 penalty for Dr. Joseph Zitterman tied to recordkeeping and delegation failures at Arkansas Medical Weight Loss Clinic.
Board members also reviewed opioid prescribing trends and PDMP maps supplied by staff; they voted to request deeper prescriber comparison reports and targeted PDMP extracts for a small group of high‑ranked prescribers and asked public‑health staff to help interpret county‑level opioid metrics for outreach and education. Several board‑requested appearances were scheduled for December. The board asked staff to draft final orders and to coordinate referrals to the state Board of Pharmacy where out‑of‑state pharmacy use or compounding raised regulatory concerns.
The board’s recorded votes and written orders will be published in full in the board registry; several enforcement referrals will proceed to further administrative or pharmacy review.
