Federal Law requires hospitals to report disciplined physicians to the National Practioner Data Bank. Unfortunately, for nearly twenty years many hospitals have failed to comply with this law. The Data Bank was developed to protect the public from incompetent physicians who move to other hospitals or states and fail to disclose their disciplinary history. Hospitals access the Data Bank before hiring a physician to confirm their history and disciplinary history, allowing them to access one centralized database as opposed to contacting each state's medical board. According to Public Citizen 49 percent of hospitals failed to report any physician disciplinary actions to the Data Bank from 1990 through 2007.
Despite law, many U.S. hospitals aren't reporting disciplinary action to a national database
Despite Law, Many Hospitals Fail to Report Disciplined Physicians (4.21.10)
April 21, 2010
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