Restore public's access to data on disciplined, sued doctors

Journalists, consumer groups and patient rights advocates trying to expose dangerous doctors for years have had a useful tool at their disposal – the National Practitioner Data Bank.

But that tool was yanked away recently when the Obama administration decided to bar public access to the information stored in the data bank.

That decision was an overreaction to the Kansas City Star’s use of the data bank to report on the failure of the Kansas or Missouri medical boards to discipline doctors with long histories of malpractice allegations. And it’s a direct contradiction to the administration’s objective of increased transparency in health care as a way of fighting spiraling costs.

The National Practitioner Data Bank is an online database that compiles physicians’ disciplinary and malpractice records. While the doctors aren’t named, the records are valuable tools for anyone trying to track trends in how well individual states discipline problem practitioners. And it’s sometimes possible for journalists to put two and two together and figure out – from their own, independent reporting – which doctor is being described in a data bank file.

The public has an interest in access to such records because too often, problem practitioners are able to keep treating patients when perhaps they shouldn’t be.

Although almost every doctor will be sued for malpractice at some point in his or her career, most will never face more than one lawsuit, according to the American Medical Association. Fewer than 2 percent of doctors account for half the malpractice claim payouts. It’s the victims of those 2 percent who are of interest to journalists and patient advocates, and the National Practitioners Data Bank has been helpful in telling their stories.

With health care reform, Americans will need more information – not less – about practitioners so that they can make informed decisions. The Department of Health and Human Services has even proposed giving the public access to ratings of health care providers. That doesn’t square up with cutting the public off from an important source of online information about physicians who have faced disciplinary and legal action. That access should be restored.