This week’s “On The Media” show features AHCJ President Charles Ornstein discussing the public use file of the National Practitioner Data Bank.
Conference call: Future of NPDB Public Use File
Journalists can participate in a call with HRSA officials on Oct. 13, 1-2 p.m. ET. Please register in advance.
As regular readers of Covering Health know, this is an important file that has been used by patient safety advocates, reporters and other researchers to report on medical disciplinary actions, lax oversight and loopholes at state medical boards. The Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, took the file offline on Sept. 1 following a complaint from one doctor’s lawyer.
AHCJ and other journalism groups have protested the removal of the file and have called for it to be returned to the public site. U.S. Senator Charles Grassley has joined the protest with a letter to the HRSA administrator that demands answers to his questions about why this file is no longer publicly available.
Duff Wilson of The New York Times wrote a blog post about the file being taken offline and Grassley’s letter. For complete coverage of the issue, please see AHCJ’s Right to know news.
