ML doctor's license to practice restricted

MOSES LAKE - A Moses Lake physician's license will be on probation for five years and he will be prohibited from treating chronic pain patients as part of an agreement with the state Department of Health.

The DOH found Allen Quinn, an osteopathic physician, committed unprofessional conduct, according to a DOH press release issued Oct. 29. The DOH oversight board said Quinn's treatment of some patients was below accepted standards of care.

Through personnel at his office, Quinn declined to comment.

Department of Health officials try to find the "least restrictive means (of discipline) and still protect the public," Janelle Cognasso, discipline case manager for the state's osteopathic oversight board, said.

"This doctor has some pretty tight restrictions on him," Cognasso said. Quinn's activities must be monitored by a physician, designated as a "quality reviewer," and a separate case manager.

Quinn will be required to refer any patients who are looking for chronic pain treatment to other doctors and health care providers outside his practice. He won't be allowed to prescribe drugs "classified by the Food and Drug Administration as a sedative-hypnotic," according to a DOH press release.

He won't be allowed to prescribe benzodiazepine medications (psychoactive drugs including Xanax and Valium). Quinn's ability to prescribe opioid drugs will be restricted, and he won't be allowed to prescribe opioids to chronic pain patients.

Quinn is medical director for Assured Hospice, and will be allowed to prescribe chronic pain medication to the hospice patients. A list of those patients must be submitted to DOH each quarter for five years.

Quinn must undergo a professional assessment, including "cognitive function screening," and might be required to undergo further testing. That's part of an extensive assessment that must be completed within four months of the order, which went into effect in September. The agreement was announced in the DOH press release, issued Tuesday.

The assessment may require Quinn to enter a continuing education program, and any additional training must be completed within two years.

Quinn was accused in November 2012 of unprofessional conduct, not meeting the standard of care and not keeping proper records in cases dating from about 1996 to 2010. He also allegedly treated his mother, his wife and himself, which does not meet the standard of care, according to the 2012 statement of charges.

Quinn operated a private practice in Yakima before opening a practice in Moses Lake in 2003. The DOH charged that Quinn had over-prescribed medication in the period covered in the statement of charges, citing the cases of 19 patients.

The DOH alleged Quinn focused on prescribing drugs to patients complaining of pain and didn't try to find the underlying causes. The charges also alleged that his monitoring of some patients using the drugs was insufficient, and he ignored signs some patients might be using too much of the prescribed drugs.