Nurses devote themselves to caring for others. They are an essential part of our health care system, providing the care and attention that patients often cannot receive from busy doctors.
That is just part of why it is so important to act quickly and effectively to defend a New York license. The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services maintains a List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), which is in effect, a do-not-hire list that applies to all states and all hospitals, nursing homes, insurance companies, etc. that bill Medicare or Medicaid.
The New York State Nurses Association says if you’re an RN on the LEIE list, you must apply for reinstatement within 90 days of the date specified in your exclusion letter. If you give up your license after an investigation has been launched, it’s considered a disciplinary relinquishment and is effectively the same as having your license revoked.
So what does the nurses association recommend? Once you have been notified of an investigation, “seek the advice right away of an attorney with experience in such professional licensing matters and administrative hearings.”
The organization urges you not to talk to an investigator until you have spoken with an attorney who can help you defend your rights and your license.
The NYSNA also urges you not to relinquish your license, and says further that if you are innocent of the charges you face, contest the allegations at a formal hearing.
A skilled attorney can help nurses keep their licenses by demonstrating that charges are unfounded or that there were mitigating circumstances.