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In Ohio, a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing is most often issued by the Ohio Board of Nursing when a nurse violates the terms of his or her Adjudication Order or Consent Agreement with the Board. Any Ohio nurse who receives a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing from the Ohio Board of Nursing faces a unique set of problems.

First and foremost, the nurse must immediately and, in most cases unexpectedly, stop practicing nursing under the Ohio license. That is because unlike a more standard Notice of Opportunity for Hearing that alleges a violation of Ohio Revised Code 4723.28 (A) or (B), where the nurse is permitted to continue to practice under his / her Ohio license until the charges have been resolved through either a Consent Agreement or Adjudication Order (that may impose a suspension of the license), the suspension imposed by Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing becomes effective upon the issuance of the Notice. It almost goes with saying that a nurse who is unable to practice under his or her Ohio nursing license is going to suffer a prompt and severe financial hardship.

Second, the nurse is for the most part unable to control the pace of the process for resolving the charges in the Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing. As a result, the nurse will remain suspended for as long as it takes to: 1) submit a timely request for a hearing with the Nursing Board (which must always occur in order for the nurse to contest or otherwise respond to the matters at issue in the Notice through the hearing process or have time to negotiate and enter into a Consent Agreement with the Board); 2) complete the hearing process through the issuance of an Adjudication Order by the Board or enter into a Consent Agreement with the Board (which are the 2 ways to resolve the charges in a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing); and 3) honor the conditions for reinstatement outlined in the Adjudication Order or Consent Agreement (in order to end the suspension that was in place). For frame of reference, from the time a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing is issued, it normally takes about 4 months (which is 2 Board Meeting cycles) to enter into a Consent Agreement or about 8 -10 months (which is 4-5 Board Meeting cycles) to complete the hearing process through the issuance of an Adjudication Order.

Third, the nurse faces strong incentives to settle through a Consent Agreement instead of going all the way through the hearing process to the issuance of an Adjudication Order. Common sense dictates that if the terms of the Consent Agreement and the Adjudication are the same, then a nurse who entered into the Consent Agreement is going to have his / her license reinstated soon than a nurse who completes the hearing process through the issuance of an Adjudication Order. Therefore, it should be apparent that resolving the charges through a Consent Agreement should be the goal. However, that can take away from a nurse’s ability to fully present his or her position to the Board. For practical purposes, the only times the hearing process should be followed all the way to an Adjudication Order is when the Board does not offer any Consent Agreement or if the terms of the Consent Agreement are far worse for the nurse than what can reasonably be expected to be achieved through the hearing process and issuance of an Adjudication Order.

Operating within this framework, the Ohio nursing license defense attorneys at Graff & McGovern always submit the hearing request as soon as possible after one of their nurse clients receives a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing from the Ohio Board of Nursing. In addition, when submitting the hearing request, we always request: 1) an expedited hearing; and 2) to be placed in contact with one of the attorneys on the Nursing Board’s staff whose job it is to negotiate proposed Consent Agreements. Then, persistent follow up is required with: 1) the Nursing Board’s Hearing Unit (to move the hearing process along to the point where a Hearing Examiner is assigned and a hearing date / case schedule are established); and 2) the attorney assigned to negotiate a Consent Agreement. That said, even with the best efforts of an experienced nursing license defense attorney and full cooperation of the Nursing Board and its staff, the very earliest a Consent Agreement can be negotiated and approved by the Board is 2 months from the issuance Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing (which is 1 Board Meeting cycle).

Knowing the unique set of problems caused by receiving a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing from the Ohio Board of Nursing, the biggest take away for nurses reading this article should be to avoid engaging in acts / omissions that lead the Board to issue a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing. The best way to do that is to remain in full compliance with your Consent Agreement or Adjudication Order. Along those lines, any nurse who is required to comply with employment conditions imposed by the Ohio Board of Nursing may want to read my March 9, 2017 article that provides compliance tips aimed at avoiding violations that can easily lead to receiving a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing from the Ohio Board of Nursing. Likewise, any nurse who is required to submit to alcohol / drug screening imposed by the Ohio Board of Nursing may want to read my February 23, 2017 article that provides compliance tips aimed at avoiding violations that can easily lead to receiving a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing from the Board.

If you or a nurse you know has questions about the Ohio Board of Nursing and/or how to avoid or address a Notice of Automatic Suspension and Opportunity for Hearing, please contact the nursing license defense attorneys at Graff & McGovern. Jim McGovern can be reached at 614-228-5800, x2, or jmcgovern@grafflaw.com