Study charges underreporting in National Practitioner Data Bank

Many managed care organizations and hospitals rarely report actions taken against incompetent practitioners.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. June 18, 2001.

The National Practitioner Data Bank is under fire again.

Last year, Rep. Thomas Bliley, (R,Va.) introduced a bill to publicly open the database of adverse actions against physicians, dentists and other practitioners, but the measure failed to gather support after the AMA and other physician groups argued against it. Then a federal General Accounting Office report found that the federal data bank was inaccurate and incomplete.

Now a new report shows managed care organizations and hospitals seldom report disciplinary actions as required by law.

During the data bank's first decade, 84% of managed care groups and 60% of hospitals reported no adverse actions, according to the report, released in May by the Inspector General's office of the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Some consumer advocate groups say the report proves that the database is failing at its fundamental goal of helping to protect patients from incompetent doctors.

"This is just a blatant violation of the law and a slap in the face to consumers," said Charles B. Inlander, president of People's Medical Society, a consumer advocacy group. "There's a lot of covering up, there's a lot of circling the wagons, and a lot of it has to do with economics."

HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs the data bank and asked for the study, said it would follow the report's suggestions, which include convening a conference to address monitoring practitioners.

"We will be using the recommendations to help make the data bank work more effectively," said Kay Garvey, HRSA spokeswoman. [...]