Don’t you want to know if your doctor or local hospital has ever faced disciplinary action from the state’s medical board?
For many years journalists and the public have had access to the National Practitioner Data Bank to find out. While the database doesn’t identify physicians by name or address, it has provided information about hospital sanctions, malpractice payouts and state disciplinary actions against every doctor in the country. Reporters have used this database to find stories about specific doctors who have faced repeated complaints and inquiries by state medical boards, even though the doctors aren’t specifically named in the database.
Until this month.
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration department, which maintains the database, yanked it offline after a doctor’s attorney complained about the use of the data bank in a story. The agency says it will be offline for at least 6 months and may never be public again unless it determines how to keep the names of doctors in the database private.
Taking a database offline used under the guise of protecting the public from unscrupulous doctors is a huge about face for the Obama administration. President Obama vowed during his campaign to make his government transparent to the public and this decision flies in the face of that vow.
The Association of Health Care Journalists, of which I am a member, along with the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors has sent a letter to the administration protesting the decision. It appears the administration has put the interest of physicians ahead of the public.
(Photo courtesy of Creative Commons)
