As a healthcare provider, if you receive notice that you’ve been reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), you may feel lost. Whether the report stems from a peer review action, a board sanction, or a malpractice payment, the consequences can follow you for years — every hospital, credentialing committee, and licensing board that queries the NPDB will see it.
But you’re not powerless. Federal law gives practitioners the right to challenge and correct inaccurate NPDB reports, and doing so quickly and strategically can make all the difference.
The NPDB is a federal repository of adverse information about healthcare professionals. It was created under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA) to prevent practitioners with histories of misconduct or incompetence from moving state to state without disclosure. Hospitals, state boards, malpractice insurers, and federal agencies are legally required to report certain actions, including:
Once reported, the information is permanent (unless successfully disputed) and available to virtually every entity that controls your professional life — from hospitals and health plans to licensing boards.
Once you receive a NPDB report, you have three immediate options:
You file the dispute directly through your NPDB account. The report’s status changes to “In Dispute,” and the NPDB notifies the reporting entity. At this point, the goal is to resolve the issue directly with the reporting organization.
The reporting entity has 60 days to review and respond. It can correct the report if errors are identified, void the report entirely, or reaffirm the report.
If direct resolution fails, you can request a review by the HHS Secretary. HHS may affirm the report, direct corrections, or void the report if it does not meet reporting standards.
You can technically dispute a report at any time, but waiting only makes things worse. Hospitals and boards continue to see the uncorrected report while the process drags on. Prompt action allows for faster resolution and may even prevent further credentialing fallout. This is important because once HHS issues its decision, it’s final and the only way to challenge the report is by filing suit in federal court against HHS.
An NPDB report can have career-altering consequences. The dispute process is complex and highly technical, but it’s also one of the few legal mechanisms available to protect your professional record.
If you’ve been reported to the NPDB or believe a report was filed improperly, don’t wait. Early intervention by an experienced healthcare attorney can often mean the difference between a corrected record and a permanent scar on your career. Contact Chapman Law Group for a review of your situation and whether a report to the NPDB can be altered.
"*" indicates required fields
Shareholder
Chairperson of Professional Licensing & Regulatory Affairs,
Civil Litigation
Sarasota Office
6841 Energy Court
Sarasota, FL 34240
Phone: (941) 893-3449
Our Michigan healthcare regulatory and licensing lawyers negotiated to permit the physician to voluntarily resign from the employment contract without any reporting to the NPDB or the state licensing board.
Our Healthcare Regulatory attorneys worked with the Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery and the Attorney General’s office to review the surgeon’s skills.
After testing positive for alcohol at levels that indicated binge drinking, our healthcare licensing attorneys submitted the polygraph results to the DOH along with letters from her medical providers attesting to her fitness to practice.
The family of a deceased Michigan Department of Corrections inmate sued several corrections officers and medical providers, alleging they failed to provide adequate treatment for the inmate’s asthma.
