Dispute Process
How to Dispute a National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Report
A former NPDB policy insider walks through the real dispute process, what it can fix, and the most common mistake practitioners and their lawyers make.
Claudia Rausch
Insights
If You Have Been Reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), Here Is the One Thing You Need to Do Immediately
Reported to the NPDB? There's one step many practitioners don't fully utilize— and it can shape how every future credentialing decision reads.
hospitals
Malpractice or Missing Systems? Rethinking How VHA Names Physicians in NPDB Reports
Is it always the physician's fault — or is VHA naming individuals for failures in systems it was responsible for maintaining?
NPDB
What Does the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Consider a "Reportable" Adverse Clinical Privileges Action?
Reportability of adverse clinical privileges actions often hinges on one term: "professional review action." Here is what that means in practice — and what the NPDB's own guidance does not spell out
joint commission
8 Tips for Interim Medical Staff Services Directors: Keeping Credentialing and Privileging Processes on Point When You're Covering the Role
Healthcare systems lose ground fast when the Medical Staff Services Director seat is empty. Here's what interim coverage actually requires — from someone brought in to fix it.
Insights
How MECs Actually Evaluate NPDB Reports When You Apply for Hospital Privileges
If you have an NPDB report and a credentialing application ahead, you're likely guessing at what happens once your file reaches the committee. It's not a tribunal — it's peer review with its own logic. Here's what's actually happening on the other side.
Physicians
Before You Sign Another Hospital Order: The Overlooked Rights That Protect Physicians from System Failures
Your license is accountable for outcomes that often depend on systems you didn't design and can't fully control. What most physicians don't know is that their Medical Staff membership — backed by Joint Commission standards — gives them a formal, documented right to escalate when those systems fail.
oppe
7 Tips for Making Sure Your OPPE Program Passes a Joint Commission Survey
For hospital executives, MECs, and Medical Staff professionals: seven field-tested tips for building an OPPE program that holds up under Joint Commission scrutiny.
NPDB
What Is the NPDB?
Here is a plain-language explanation of the federal database at the center of every credentialing decision in American healthcare — from someone who spent 7 years operating it from the inside.
Physicians
The Biggest Mistake Physicians Make When Disputing an NPDB Report
The NPDB cannot evaluate whether the standard of care was met. It has no jurisdiction to do so. Physicians who don't know this before filing a dispute often find out too late
Insights
What Every Physician Should Know About the NPDB Before It Affects Their Career
A physician can have a permanent NPDB record created because of an investigation they were never told was happening. Here is what you need to understand before you act.