KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Board of Healing Arts of the State of Kansas suspended Dr. Rebecca Hierholzer’s license to practice medicine and perform surgery in the state on March 26 amid an investigation of her competency.
According to the Board’s ex parte emergency suspension order, allowing Hierholzer to continue practicing medicine “would constitute an immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare.”
The ex parte and a petition to the Board were obtained by 41 Action News. Both documents were heavily redacted in accordance with HIPAA regulations.
Concerns about Hierholzer’s competency were raised by the Board’s Disciplinary Panel, prompting the Board’s Compliance and Regulation Department to order her to submit to an assessment by the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians.
Hierholzer underwent the mandatory competency assessment — which evaluated her clinical judgment and reasoning, patient care documentation, physician-patient communication skills, and cognitive function among other screenings — in early January.
Hierholzer failed to follow CPEP’s recommendations, according to the ex parte. She won’t be permitted to resume practicing medicine until fulfilling those requirements.
The Board found that Hierholzer “has committed acts of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct or professional incompetency,” according to a petition filed with the Board on March 26.
The Board’s findings further stated that Hierholzer “exhibited a pattern of practice of other behavior” that “demonstrates a manifest incapacity of incompetence to practice the healing arts,” the petition said.
Hierholzer, who received her doctoral degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is listed on the websites of several local hospitals and is licensed to practice emergency medicine. She's also the founder of a local sexual assault awareness organization.
