FARGO - The North Dakota State Board of Medical Examiners suspended the medical license of Rodney J. Lee, a Fargo physician who operates RapidCare, urgent care clinics in Fargo and Grand Forks, as well as Moorhead and Detroit Lakes, Minn.
The emergency license suspension happened Friday, according to a statement from the board.
The board's statement says Lee's practice violated accepted medical practices in several areas:
- Lee accepted returned controlled substances from patients and kept the drugs in an unsecured desk drawer in his Fargo office. Proper records were not kept to track these narcotics. On June 26 Lee ordered a staff member to throw the drugs stored in his desk into a Dumpster.
- The board's investigative panel found that Lee's documentation and recordkeeping with regard to pain management patients was insufficient.
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- As the only physician in the five RapidCare clinics, Lee routinely signed and post-dated blank prescription pads, which he would allow physi-cian assistants employed by him to complete in his ab-sence, specifically for con-trolled substances. This vio-lates proper standard of care for prescribing controlled substances.
- Lee billed the North Dakota Medicaid program under his name and provider number for services completed by physician assistants and nurse practitioners who work for him, resulting in more money than he is entitled to.
In its suspension order, the Board of Medical Examiners found that the continued practice of medicine by Lee "would create a significant risk of serious and ongoing harm to the public while a disciplinary proceeding is pending ..."
A hearing of this case before the board is scheduled for Aug. 13, according to Duane Houdek, executive secretary of the Board of Medical Examiners.
