US Physician Quality Clearinghouse Beats Adverse Report Claims

The National Practitioner Data Bank didn’t act arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law by accepting and retaining an adverse action report challenged by a Maryland physician, a federal trial court said.

The federal physician clearinghouse didn’t violate the Administrative Procedure Act with respect to Howard County General Hospital’s report that surgeon Habib Bhutta allowed his privileges to practice there to expire while under investigation for possible misconduct, the US District Court for the District of Maryland said Thursday. The NPDB wasn’t required to consider if the hospital complied with its medical staff bylaws when it made the report, the court ...