Doctor Loses Protest to Data Bank Report Based on Resignation

The Health and Human Services Department correctly refused to delete a hospital’s National Practitioner Data Bank report about a doctor because he was under investigation when he resigned his medical staff privileges, a District of Columbia federal court said.

The Health Care Quality Improvement Act sets out peer review and reporting requirements for health-care providers. A provider must file an NPDB report when a physician resigns during a peer review investigation.

A letter warning orthopedic surgeon Raymond Long that Northwest Medical Center in St. Albans, Vt., would summarily suspend his privileges if he didn’t comply with certain recommendations didn’t end ...