The Auditor General has found that the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy did not investigate prostitution complaints and did not issue some licenses in accordance with statute, among other failures.
The Auditor General’s Office made the findings as part of a performance audit conducted as part of the sunset review process required by Arizona law.
In September 2021, the Governor appointed 5 new Board members, replacing all prior Board members whose terms had expired and filling a Board member vacancy. The shake-up came as a result of an investigation from the Arizona Republic that looked into allegations of sexual abuse in the industry and the failure of the Board to investigate the allegations.
Auditor General Findings:
Based on our review of 36 complaints the Board received—consisting of 7 complaints associated with a prostitution-related police report the Board received in January 2020 and a random sample of 29 complaints the Board received in calendar year 2021—we identified several problems with its complaint handling.
The Board did not investigate 7 complaints associated with a prostitution-related police report until we brought them to its attention—The Board received the 7 complaints in January 2020 but had not investigated them until we brought them to its attention in February 2022. During the more than 2-year time period that these complaints went uninvestigated, the Board renewed 4 of the individuals’ licenses—specifically between May 2020 and May 2021. After we brought these complaints to the Board’s attention, the Board staff reported that they closed 3 of 7 complaints because the 3 individuals’ licenses had expired. However, at the time Board staff received the complaints, all individuals had valid licenses that were set to expire between 450 and 752 days after the complaints were received.
The Board reviewed the remaining 4 complaints at its March 2022 Board meeting, 804 days after they were received. At the Board meeting and after Board staff had conducted an investigation, the Board summarily suspended 3 of the licensees pending a formal hearing and referred the remaining complaint to a formal interview before the Board.
During a May 2022 Board meeting and 854 days after it received the complaints, the Board revoked 1 of the individual’s licenses and accepted the voluntary surrender of another individual’s license.
As of May 2022, the Board had not resolved the remaining 2 complaints, including the complaint that was referred to a formal interview.
The Board did not document the date it received and/or resolved all 16 complaints and the complaint resolution for 12 of the complaints, while 4 complaint files did not contain any information other than the complaint number and the subject of the complaint. Absent this documentation, we could not assess the appropriateness of the Board’s investigation and/or resolution of these complaints.
The Board did not provided its telephone number to the public on its website. Instead, a statement on the Board’s website directed the public to use email to communicate with it. Board staff then replies in an email. In contrast, all other Arizona health profession regulatory boards provide a telephone number on their websites.
Because the Board has not made its telephone number available on its website, in February 2022, we sent 3 anonymous emails to the Board requesting complaint history information and licensing information for 3 different licensees. However, Board staff did not respond to our information requests by providing all statutorily allowed information. For 2 of these requests, Board staff responded to our emails directing us to its website rather than providing the information directly. However, the Board did not post copies of disciplinary and applicable nondisciplinary actions/orders on its website, such as consent agreements that explain the Board’s findings related to complaint investigations. Therefore, although we requested information about the nature of the complaint for 1 licensee who had received disciplinary action, the Board’s website did not include this requested information. Additionally, regarding the second request, statute precludes the Board from making certain information available on its website, but still must be made available to the public upon request, such as dismissed complaints, and the licensee we inquired about had a dismissed complaint. In response to the third email request about a licensee who we determined had a pending complaint, although the Board did not provide information regarding the pending complaint, inconsistent with statute, Board staff stated “the Board has pending matters” with the licensee.
Additionally, the Board did not provide information about the individual’s license, such as license number and length of licensure, even though statute and its internal policies and procedures allow its staff to report this information.