News in brief - July 24, 2000

Bill to open National Practitioner Data Bank to be offered - Practice expense camps take their fight to Congress

Bill to open National Practitioner Data Bank to be offered

Rep. Thomas J. Bliley (R, Va.) plans to introduce legislation shortly that would open to public view a 10-year-old data bank on adverse licensing and other actions taken against thousands of physicians and dentists, according to a spokesman.

Bliley, who chairs the House Commerce Committee, has long wanted to open the confidential National Practitioner Data Bank to the public as a patient safety measure. The AMA opposes the move, contending that the data, which include information on malpractice suits, are sometimes misleading and could brand even the best physicians as being worthy of suspicion.

Bliley's bill, said the spokesman, is being modeled after a Massachusetts project that attempts to present the data in context. For example, malpractice information would include the frequency of lawsuits against particular specialties and would compare a physician to others in his or her specialty.

Meanwhile, Bliley is also considering releasing the names of the 200 physicians and dentists who have accrued the most entries in the data bank. According to a spokesman, Bliley obtained the names from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs the bank.

Practice expense camps take their fight to Congress

The Practice Expense Fairness Coalition urged Congress in late June to continue the transition to resource-based practice expenses and to reject a proposal from an opposing coalition that is pushing to have the transition stopped.

The PEF coalition also asked Congress to increase the dollar conversion factor by 3% for the physician fee schedule. Every physician would gain equally under this proposal, and Congress would not have to choose sides over practice expense allocations, the coalition said.

The Halt 2000 Coalition wants Congress to stop the transition to resource-based practice expenses at the current blend of 50% charge-based and 50% resource-based. The government would use surplus dollars to foot the bill for halting the transition. The AMA House of Delegates at its June Annual Meeting adopted a resolution supporting the Halt 2000 proposal.

The Practice Expense Coalition is a partnership of seven medical societies primarily representing office-based physicians. The Halt 2000 Coalition has over 30 societies as members, many of them representing hospital-based physicians.