News

Health Dept. gets suspended doctor's files

By Bill Moss, Published: January 16, 2015

The North Carolina Medical Board has appointed the Henderson County Department of Public Health temporary custodian of the medical records of the former Hendersonville practice of Dr. Felicia B. Brabham, who was charged two years ago with insurance fraud and suspended from practicing medicine last May.

Licensed in North Carolina in 1987 after graduating from medical school at the University of South Carolina, Brabham, 61, was the subject of complaints filed in September 2012 by patients who could not get medical records from her office. Brabham, who practiced geriatric medicine, did not respond to letters seeking the files, the North Carolina Medical Board said when it documented charges against her last April.

The Medical Board said that in October 2013 Hendersonville police received a report of a break-in at Carolina Plastic Surgery offices, which adjoined her office at 735 Sixth Ave. West. Brabham admitted to police "she had entered and begun using the offices of Carolina Plastic Surgery without the permission or consent" of the practice. Eight days later police and Carolina Plastic Surgery representatives "confirmed that Brabham had been using the office to see and treat patients," the Medical Board said, and had used its supplies, including medication. Brabham voluntarily surrendered her medical license on Oct. 18, 2013. Last March the Medical Board listed her address as Cameron, S.C.

The Medical Board said she failed to respond to inquiries and failed to respond to a board investigator after an unannounced visit to her office in July 2013. On March 3, 2014, the Medical Board formally charged her with failing to provide medical records to patients, unprofessional conduct and failure to respond to the board inquiry. Two months later the board indefinitely suspended her medical license after a hearing that she skipped.

State Department of Insurance criminal investigators charged the physician in January 2013 with failing to pay health insurance premiums for her employees. Between November 2011 and April 2012, "Brabham stopped paying the health insurance premiums for her medical office employees and willfully failed to notify them that their coverage had been cancelled, resulting in the employees incurring thousands of dollars in medical bills," Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said. Brabham was charged with one count of insurance fraud.

In an order filed on Dec. 10, the Medical Board ordered Director Steven E. Smith and the Henderson County health department to "take custody of and maintain the confidentiality" of Dr. Brabham's medical and billing records, Henderson County's public information office said in a news release. The Medical Board further ordered the Department to "provide the records, or copies of the records, to the patient or patient's designee upon request," upon payment of a "reasonable copying fee."

The Medical Board further noted that the Department "is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the patient's medical record. Additionally, the Henderson County Department of Public Health is under no obligation to provide treatment to Dr. Brabham's patients." Finally, the Board ordered that the Department "may destroy any medical records not claimed by a patient or patient designee 90 days from the date of this Order."

The Henderson County Department of Public Health will provide access to Brabham's patient records for a period of 90 days starting Jan. 20 and until April 20. Former patients of Brabham must call the Department at (828) 694-6001 to confirm that their medical record is available, to discuss the specific process for acquiring the medical record and to make an appointment to pick up the medical record.

The original medical record can be: (1) picked up by the patient upon showing proper legal identification, (2) shared with a physician representative of the patient, (3) provided to the patient's attorney-in-fact (who will need to present a certified copy of the patient's power of attorney), or (4) picked up by the patient's legal guardian who must present a certified copy of their Letters of Guardianship.