Breaking news: Implementation of NPDB’s Section 1921
The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) issued a press release earlier this week about the implementation of Section 1921, which expands the practitioner information the data bank collects. More details about the new Section 1921 regulation will be published in the Federal Register within the next five to 10 days.
Nevertheless, the press release revealed that Section 1921 will expand the information contained in the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) to include:
- Adverse licensure actions taken against all licensed healthcare practitioners
- Any negative actions or findings by State licensing agencies, peer review organizations, and private accreditation organizations against all health care practitioners and entities
Additionally, “private sector (non-Federal) hospitals will now have access to adverse licensure actions taken against all licensed healthcare professionals such as nurses, podiatrists, chiropractors, and psychologists—not just physicians and dentists. At this time, only Federal hospitals have access to this information,” according to the press release.
Check the “What’s New” link on the NPDB Web site for more updates and, as always, keep reading the Credentialing Resource Center blog for the latest best practices for implementation.
About the Author: Emily Berry is an associate editor at HCPro in the credentialing market. In addition to managing information on CRC she writes the Briefings on Credentialing newsletter and the Credentialing Resource Center Connection weekly email newsletter. A native of Ohio, she graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland before moving east to attain her MS degree in journalism from Boston University. She’s always looking for new ideas for articles, so if you have any to share, please email her at 
Melanie Smith | Jan 29, 2010 | Reply
I believe this will be an invaluable addition in obtaining a complete picture of an applicant.