Care first. Seek urgent medical or dental attention for serious or worsening symptoms. Researching or preparing a complaint should never delay treatment.

Kentucky · Medical

Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure

Complaint instructions checked against the linked sources, with limitations and known conflicts. Confirm that the authority covers your concern.

Authority and scope

Check the professional and concern

KBML’s consumer guide explicitly covers MD and DO physicians and physician assistants. It reviews concerns including poor care, improper prescribing, impairment, sexual misconduct, fraud, and work beyond a license’s scope. Hospitals, clinics, nurses, and other separately licensed professionals have other regulators.

Supporting guidance: KBML: Consumer Guide and Grievance FormKBML: Grievances

Submission

How the official source says to file

  • Print the Consumer Guide and Grievance Form, complete and sign the grievance and relevant records-release authorization, and mail it to KBML, 310 Whittington Parkway, Suite 1B, Louisville, KY 40222. Telephone grievances are not accepted.
  • Give full practitioner names and addresses, dates and locations, and detailed facts. Distinguish personal knowledge from information supplied by others. The signed statement includes willingness to testify if called.
  • The guide specifically says not to send medical records, photographs, flash drives, or similar materials with the grievance. Let the Board request evidence through its investigation.

Supporting guidance: KBML: Consumer Guide and Grievance Form

Limits

What this route may not provide

The Board may impose licensing sanctions but cannot award damages, recover money, settle ordinary billing disputes, or compel a particular treatment. Its FAQ discusses possible illegal or excessive fees, while distinguishing them from deciding whether a patient must pay a bill. Describe suspected misconduct specifically.

Supporting guidance: KBML: Consumer Guide and Grievance FormKBML: Grievance FAQs

Anonymity

Do not guess about confidentiality

The FAQ generally requires a signed grievance and warns that anonymous allegations may not be investigated unless the Inquiry Panel finds sufficient reason. The practitioner can respond to the allegations. The FAQ says complainants and witnesses lack a guarantee of confidentiality, and the form warns that the grievance may become an open record.

Supporting guidance: KBML: Grievance FAQsKBML: Consumer Guide and Grievance Form

Complaint timing

No fixed completion estimate; ask promptly about filing

A filing deadline was not established by this check; ask promptly. Investigation time depends on complexity, witnesses, and interviews. Completed investigations go to an Inquiry Panel; its meeting schedule is not a deadline for patients to file.

Supporting guidance: KBML: Grievance FAQsKBML: Grievances

Process

What may happen after filing

The Board screens jurisdiction, investigates appropriate matters, and obtains the licensee’s response. Panel review may close the matter or lead to informal resolution or formal proceedings and disciplinary action. The Board’s grievance page says its panels meet eight times each year.

Supporting guidance: KBML: GrievancesKBML: Consumer Guide and Grievance Form

Evidence

Prepare a reviewable submission

State the concern you want reviewed, then add a short chronology, best supporting records, factual consequences, and a specific request for review.

Read the linked authority and process information ↗

Sources and scope

KBML: Grievances

Complaint scope, printable filing route, and panel process.

Source checked: September 19, 2026

KBML: Grievance FAQs

Anonymous complaints, respondent disclosure, timing factors, treatment and billing limits.

Source checked: September 19, 2026

Source check: September 19, 2026. This records a review of the linked material, not a decision about your case. No clinical or legal reviewer is identified for this guide. Confirm current instructions with the receiving authority.

A state authority is one checkpoint—not the entire accountability system.

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