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Health Care Principal Robin Locke Nagele Co-Authors June 2015 AHLA Member Briefing on Navigating Changes to National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Reporting

In a June 2015 American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) Member Briefing, Health Care Principal Robin Locke Nagele teamed with fellow AHLA attorneys to author, "Highlights of the 2015 Databank Guidebook: Navigating the New NPDB." The comprehensive review examines the April 2015 Guidebook (2015 Guidebook) issued by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), particularly how it relates to changes in National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) reporting.

The briefing notes that in the introduction to the 2015 Databank Guidebook, the HRSA provides an overview of the organization of the new manual, and points out that it now encompasses mandated reporting under three separate federal statutes:

  • The Health Care Quality Improvement Act’s (HCQIA’s) traditional NPDB or Data Bank reporting;
  • The Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act’s Mandatory State Licensure Sanction reporting (Social Security Act (SSA) Section 21); and
  • The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) reporting.

The briefing also notes that, "Importantly, while the Draft Guidebook continued to use HIPDB’s terminology, the 2015 Guidebook has completely eliminated that terminology, and NPDB now has completely subsumed the former HIPDB."

The Member Briefing was sponsored by the AHLA's NPDB Work Group of the Medical Staff, Credentialing, and Peer Review Practice Group, and co-sponsored by related AHLA practice groups.