In 2013 the Medical Board of California underwent its periodic sunset review before the Legislature. As a result, S.B. 304 extended the Medical Board’s sunset period until January 1, 2018, while also making some significant changes to the way the board conducts its business and enforces discipline against licensees. The changes enacted by S.B. 304 and other changes implemented in the past few years have resulted in an expanded power of the Medical Board to obtain information about physicians, as well as enhanced power to discipline physicians for unprofessional conduct or other wrongdoing. Significantly, the Medical Board is zealously pursuing investigations and disciplinary actions against physicians for alleged overprescribing of narcotic drugs, relying in large part on confidential patient information contained in the state’s Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES). While CURES can be a useful tool for prescribing physicians as well as law enforcement, unfortunately, this increased power can translate into serious harm to any physician brought under Medical Board scrutiny, sometimes beyond what may be warranted under the circumstances. For this reason, any physician brought under the Medical Board’s scrutiny should immediately obtain competent counsel with specific experience in Medical Board matters. For information on what to do if a physician becomes the target of an MBC investigation, see CMA ON-CALL document #2002, “Medical Board Investigations.”