The National Practitioner Data Bank administered by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services can have huge implications for a healthcare professional's job, practice, privileges, and career. Physicians, nurses, dentists, and other licensed healthcare practitioners who are subject to disciplinary actions by licensing boards, hospitals, and professional societies all face substantial NPDB risks. If you have NPDB issues or anticipate NPDB issues, promptly retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for the skilled and experienced representation you need to avoid crippling NPDB issues. Read this general information while referring to our many specific NPDB pages.
The National Practitioner Data Bank's Role
Since its activation in 1990 under the federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, the National Practitioner Data Bank has served as a single repository and searchable database for disciplinary actions against healthcare professionals. The NPDB's role is to facilitate licensing board, employer, and professional association searches for disciplinary actions against healthcare professionals to qualify or disqualify those professionals from licensure, practice, employment, and positions of professional leadership. Let us know immediately if you have NPDB issues so that we can help you avoid issues with your licensing board, employer, or place of professional privileges.
Potential NPDB Impacts
You can already imagine from the above introduction the impacts and perils that NPDB action reports against you can create. You could lose a professional license or opportunity to gain a new license in another jurisdiction over an accurate or inaccurate NPDB entry. You could also lose your practice privileges at your local hospitals and lose your employment with your hospital, healthcare system, or professional practice group. Even if you retain your license, privileges, and employment, NPDB action reports against you may cost you professional association membership and leadership, affecting your reputation, employment security, and advancement. Everything for which you've worked could be on the line. Do not hesitate to retain us to promptly address your NPDB issues before they adversely affect your licensure, privileges, practice, or employment.
Ways We Help Avoid NPDB Issues
You may feel helpless in the face of the administrative and bureaucratic challenge of avoiding an adverse NPDB action report or correcting an inaccurate report already entered against your license. Don't despair. Instead, take prompt action to retain us and act swiftly, surely, and effectively on your behalf. Our attorneys know the ways to strategically help you avoid or correct NPDB issues. We can, among other things:
- help you promptly address issues, concerns, and complaints before they reach your licensing board and its investigators to head off adverse findings and NPDB action reports;
- help you respond to licensing board disciplinary investigation, presenting your exonerating and mitigating information to head off formal charges and avoid an NPDB action report;
- help you invoke the licensing board's formal procedures for a due process hearing, at which to present your exonerating and mitigating information to avoid an NPDB action report;
- help you demonstrate your compliance with licensing board remedial measures or sanctions to regain your good licensing standing for entry of an updated NPDB action report;
- challenge through NPDB procedures NPDB notice to you of an adverse action report that is inaccurate or incomplete and warrants prompt correction or removal;
- communicate and advocate with your place of practice privilege and with your employer, explaining our efforts on your behalf to correct inaccurate NPDB reports and assuring of your continued licensure and fitness for employment and practice.
NPDB's Limited But Significant Access
Fortunately, NPDB access is generally limited to professional licensing boards, employers of licensed healthcare professionals, hospitals, and other entities offering practice privileges to licensed healthcare professionals, as well as professional associations offering membership and leadership positions to licensed healthcare professionals. You and other licensed healthcare professionals who have information in the NPDB also have a right to self-query as to your records only. Members of the public, including your patients and their family members, do not generally have NPDB access. Your professional colleagues may also not have general access unless they occupy positions evaluating your fitness for privileges or employment. However, you can see how NPDB information can spread quickly within your professional network among credentials committees, professional licensing boards, employment managers, evaluators, supervisors, and professional association leadership. Let us help you avoid or correct adverse NPDB information rather than suffer damage to your reputation and practice.
NPDB Adverse Information
NPDB action reports can include any disciplinary action that your licensing board takes, such as warning, reprimand, probation, license monitoring, limitation, suspension, or revocation. Action reports can also include the factual basis or disciplinary grounds for that license action, such as criminal conviction, acts of violence, harassment, or incompetence, malpractice settlements or judgments, or conditions of professional impairment or unfitness. Action reports can also include suspension, revocation, or limitation of your clinical privileges, disqualification from government healthcare programs, and even some peer review findings. You can see how perilous your license, employment, reputation, and career widespread disclosure of this NPDB adverse information could be. Don't let an inaccurate or outdated NPDB record continue to harm your job security and professional career. Let us help you challenge, update, and correct your NPDB file.
Premier NPDB Representation Available Nationwide
If you face National Practitioner Data Bank issues of any kind, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team to help you favorably resolve those issues so that they do not harm your professional employment, practice, licensure, or career. Do not retain unqualified local criminal defense counsel or an unqualified local personal injury or business attorney. The law, rules, and procedures for NPDB defense all differ from court and transactional law and procedures. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our skilled and experienced representation for your best NPDB outcome.
