What is the National Practitioner Data Bank?
The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) is a confidential, web-based repository operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It collects and discloses reports on medical malpractice payments and certain adverse actions (such as licensure disciplinary actions, clinical privilege restrictions, professional society actions, and exclusions from federal programs) involving health care practitioners, providers, and suppliers.
Established by Congress under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (with later expansions, including the merger of the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank in 2013), the NPDB aims to improve health care quality, protect the public, and reduce fraud and abuse by serving as a flagging system for professional competence and conduct issues.
Information in the NPDB is not publicly available and can only be accessed by authorized entities (e.g., hospitals, state licensing boards, and certain health care organizations) for credentialing and review purposes. Practitioners can self-query their own records.
Once a negative entry is entered into the NPDB it is difficult to remove but it can be updated.
What Information Does It Contain?
The NPDB does not contain "good" news or general credentials; it specifically tracks adverse actions and medical malpractice history, including:
Medical Malpractice Payments: Details on any exchange of money resulting from a written claim or judgment against a practitioner.
Adverse Actions: Revocations, suspensions, or reprimands of a professional license by state boards.
Clinical Privilege Actions: When a hospital or healthcare entity limits, suspends, or revokes a doctor’s privileges for more than 30 days due to professional competence or conduct.
Professional Society Actions: Reductions in membership status based on peer review of a practitioner's conduct.
Criminal Convictions/Civil Judgments: Healthcare-related legal actions or exclusions from federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
2. Who Can Access the Data?
The NPDB is not available to the general public. Because it contains sensitive and sometimes unproven allegations (like pending malpractice settlements), access is strictly regulated:
Eligible Entities: Hospitals, state licensing boards, health plans, and other professional peer-review bodies are required or permitted to "query" (search) the database.
Self-Query: Individual practitioners (doctors, nurses, dentists, etc.) can request a "Self-Query" to see what information, if any, is stored about them.
Attorneys: In very limited circumstances, a plaintiff's attorney may gain access if they are suing a hospital that failed to check the NPDB for a specific practitioner
For more details, visit the official site at NPDB Website.
