The malpractice cap that Texas instituted in 2003 is leading to an influx of doctors.

That’s good for patients who benefit from the access provided by the new physicians. However, the Texas Medical Board can’t keep up with the pace of new registrations, despite increasing their staff by 28 percent over the last six years.

This is leading to a delay when dealing with patient complaints, which can compromise patient care. A 5-month delay is cited, despite “seven hearings a day, four to five days a week, with a staff of nine [investigators].”

The obvious solution would be to hire more medical board staff, but it’s pretty striking how successful the malpractice cap has been in bringing in new doctors.