By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    improving patient experience
    6 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction Within Hospitals
    December 1, 2021
    degree for healthcare job
    What Are The Health Benefits Of Having A Degree?
    March 9, 2022
    custom software development is changing healthcare
    Digital Customer Journey Mapping and its Importance for Healthcare
    July 21, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Patient Perception
    Medical Scrubs And Patient Perception: How Clothing Affects Patient Trust
    July 11, 2023
    How Would You Choose The Best Medical Clothing And Gloves?
    September 15, 2021
    MTBI Testing Helps Get Settlements to Cover Medical Bills
    April 16, 2024
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 20, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 20, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 20, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Journalists Decry WH Decision to Pull Physicians’ Database
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Medical Ethics > Journalists Decry WH Decision to Pull Physicians’ Database
Medical Ethics

Journalists Decry WH Decision to Pull Physicians’ Database

MichaelDouglas1
MichaelDouglas1
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

Throughout one’s professional life as a physician, there are some things that are inevitable: changes to Medicare reimbursement schedules due to factors beyond our control, insurance denials, and the presence of the National Practitioner Data Bank — the omniscient arbiter of physician conformity and performance in the eyes of the public and watchdog groups. This latter factor is one many physicians manage to avoid, especially in this age of defensive medicine. But, sometimes lawsuits rear their ugly heads, and notifications of judgments follow the unfortunate clinician forever.

Throughout one’s professional life as a physician, there are some things that are inevitable: changes to Medicare reimbursement schedules due to factors beyond our control, insurance denials, and the presence of the National Practitioner Data Bank — the omniscient arbiter of physician conformity and performance in the eyes of the public and watchdog groups. This latter factor is one many physicians manage to avoid, especially in this age of defensive medicine. But, sometimes lawsuits rear their ugly heads, and notifications of judgments follow the unfortunate clinician forever.

The NYT is reporting that groups of journalists are protesting the Obama administration’s apparent decision to remove the database access from the Internet, at the same time, imposing fines for confidentiality breaches as sources for articles.

“Reporters across the country have used the public use file to write stories that have exposed serious lapses in the oversight of doctors that have put patients at risk,” Charles Ornstein, president of the Association of Health Care Journalists and a reporter for ProPublica, an investigative newsroom, said in an interview. “Their stories have led to new legislation, additional levels of transparency in various states, and kept medical boards focused on issues of patient safety.”

Having used ProPublica as a source for many an article or post here on Doctor Pundit; I, too, am understandably concerned. The feds say that the issue was whether more private information — as opposed to the public database — was accessed and that the response to the original complaint letter was sent directly to a journalist upon database takedown. Further, a division spokesman from within DHS explains

More Read

8 Of The Most Bizarre Medical Malpractice Cases Out There
Doctor Wes Speaks on on Doctor Privacy
Feds Bust Doctor for Medicare Fraud– Biggest MD Fraud Case in History
What Would You Do?
The Three Cs of Physician Reputation Management

“We are going to do everything we can to get the data back up in a public use file as quickly as we possibly can,” Mr. Kramer said. “We want to make sure the public, researchers and reporters have access to all the information that we can legally make available.”

Seems that it would be in the best interest of the public to get this resolved as quickly as possible, and without significant “changes” made to the public file by a government agency.

Related posts:

  1. MN-Based UnitedHealth Accused of Limiting Payments to Physicians of Out-of-Network Patients Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth, which also happens to be the largest healthcare…
  2. Massachusetts Physicians Win Judicial Decision on Issues of Patient Confidentiality Most — if not all — state regulatory boards of…
  3. Analysis: Pharma Payouts to Docs Increasingly Irresponsible in the Age of Reform The role of the physician as spokesperson in the name…

 

TAGGED:National Practioner Data Bank
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Dilemmas in Healthcare’s Information Age: A Bioethicist’s Take on EMRs, DNA Sequencing

August 4, 2013
medicaid
BusinessFinanceHealth ReformHospital AdministrationMedical EthicsPolicy & LawPublic Health

Making a 5% Commitment to Medicaid

November 21, 2013

Theranos for President?

November 17, 2015
Healthcare Facility
Health ReformHospital AdministrationMedical Ethics

Joint Commission Report Leadership Safety Failures: How to Increase Safety at Your Healthcare Facility Today

May 3, 2017
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?