Health Care Lawyer Blog

I have been somewhat amazed by the protest surrounding the Department of Health and Human Services' decision to shut down public access to the National Practitioner Data Bank. Given that the only NPDB records available to the general public are devoid of any identifying details like names of parties, ages, or even the amount of malpractice settlement, it initially seemed that perusing the "public" version of the database would be about as exciting as reading a blank notebook.

However, apparently what some creative journalists and public interest groups had been doing was matching the facts in the redacted NPDB reports with court records, thereby identifying the specific individuals involved in certain reports such as malpractice payments.

Consumer watchdog groups such as Public Citizens have alleged that by removing public access to the NPDB, HHS is denying them access to data that is "is crucial to patient safety and research aimed at informed public policy decisions concerning malpractice, tort reform, peer review, and medical licensing." However, supporters of HHS's decision claim that this lack of confidentiality places even more stress on the peer review environment.

Personally, I am more concerned that the practice of viewing redacted NPDB reports and matching them with court records may lead to a physician being erroneously "identified", or even unfairly classified as a "bad physician" by laymen who have no medical background or formal training.

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The United States Department of Health and Human Services has shut down public access to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), according to several reports.

The NPDB stores information on physicians and other health care professionals which is used by hospitals, state medical boards, and other entities to make decisions regarding credentialing and licensing. Such information includes reports on if the physician has ever been terminated for issues related to patient care; settled or had a judgment rendered against him/her in a malpractice case; if a physician resigns while under investigation; and certain other adverse events.

Public access to the NPDB has historically been limited - members of the public could review records, but identifying details such as names and ages were removed, along with the dollar amounts of malpractice settlements. However, HHS has now decided to eliminate public access to the NPBD entirely. Now, the database may only be accessed by licensing or credentialing agencies such as hospitals, medical board, insurers, etc.

A spokesperson for HHS claims that NPDB information must be kept confidential, and even limited public access allows users to "triangulate" data. Patient advocacy groups have protested the public access removal.