The National Practitioner Data Bank records malpractice payments, physician disciplinary action and hospital privilege restrictions, but a recent journalistic investigation reveals the system "can be gamed," keeping crucial information from patients, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Three things to know:
1. The National Practitioner Data Bank can be "gamed" so that not all the reported problems of physicians appear on the seemingly comprehensive list. The system is several instances of duplicate entries, inaccurate data or incomplete information.
Robert Oshel, former official at the national data bank, told the Journal Sentinel that physicians can prevent their wrongdoings from being listed. By law, hospitals must report a physician who loses privileges for more than 30 days, but sometimes a physician is only punished for 29 days, so the disciplinary action against him is not reported.
2. State medical boards report actions against physicians to the system, but don't use the system to check the records of physicians applying for work. It costs states $2 to search a physician's record in their system, and in 2017, among 30 state medical boards, the system was used less than 100 times, according to figures from the federal Health Resources and Service Administration cited by Journal Sentinel.
3. Patients do not have access to the national database, even though it would greatly inform their own decisionmaking. Currently patients are allowed to search physician records from their own state to see whether a physician has a clear record in that state. But that physician might have had issues elsewhere.
But in a statement cited by the Journal Sentinel, Barbara McAneny, American Medical Association president, said medical boards are the best source to report disciplinary action to the public.
"Opening the NPDB would not help patients," Ms. McAneny said. "A far better approach toward helping patients is to enhance the state-run investigative and reporting systems already in place."
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