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National Practitioner Data Bank Attorney Lawyer Law Firm Office

National Practitioner Data Bank Attorney Lawyer Law Firm OfficeOverlap and duplication of two federal disciplinary data banks would be reduced if a proposed rule of the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration becomes final.

Announced for public comment February 15, 2012, the revised rule (HRSA-0906-AA87), required under the health insurance reform measure, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, would merge the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) into the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).

The first discipline data bank, the NPDB, was set up in 1986 in response to widely publicized scandals about lax physician discipline and suspended doctors who simply pulled up stakes and started a practice in another state. The law’s scope was expanded in later legislation requiring that each state file reports of adverse licensure actions against physicians, dentists, and other providers.

The second databank, the HIPDB, was created as part of HIPAA, (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) to combat fraud and abuse, but it also required reporting of adverse licensing and certification actions.

After a period of transition, the HIPAA data bank will cease operations under the proposed rule. State agencies and officials will continue to have access, through the single database, to all final adverse actions in licensing and certification, criminal convictions and civil judgments in federal or state court relating to delivery of health care services, exclusions from federal health care programs, and other adjudicated actions or decisions.

© 2012 Professional Licensing Report, published by ProForum, a non-profit research group, www.plrnet.org. Reprinted by permission.

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