National Practitioner Data Bank

Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank

Coming Soon

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• Implementation of Section 1921

  The final rules for Section 1921 of the Social Security Act are in the final stage of federal government review and are anticipated to be published in the Federal Register soon. Once published and implemented, Section 1921 will protect beneficiaries participating in the Social Security Act’s health care programs from unfit health care practitioners and entities and improve the anti-fraud provisions of these programs. Section 1921 will add adverse actions taken against other licensed health care practitioners and health care entities to the NPDB.

  These rules will require significant ITP and QRXS file format updates. Draft ITP specifications and QRXS specifications are available for download now. An e-mail notification was sent to users on the QRXS and ITP Mailing Lists as well. If you would like to stay current on the Section 1921 ICD changes and other QRXS and ITP related subjects, sign up for the QRXS or ITP Mailing List.

  When the final rules for Section 1921 are published in the Federal Register, the ICDs will be updated to reflect any changes based on the final rules. At this time the extent of changes is unclear, but it is anticipated that little change will result between the draft and final ICDs. The changes have the same effective date as the Section 1921 final regulations, which will be published in the Federal Register. Notice of the effective date and any additional changes will be provided.

November 2009

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• Introducing an Enhanced Self-Query Service!

  Practitioners can now:

  • Receive email notification when your results are ready,
  • Get online access to your self-query results,
  • Request multiple sealed copies via US Mail.

  For more information, see the Fact Sheet on Self-Querying.

September 2009

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• Public Use Data File Updated

  The NPDB Public Use Data File has been updated to include disclosable statistical report information received from September 1, 1990 through June 30, 2009. The file does not contain any information that identifies individual practitioners or reporting entitites and is designed for statistical analysis only.

August 2009

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• QRXS and ITP Users Take Note!

  The Data Banks implemented several improvements to the QRXS and ITP submission and response file formats. Updated QRXS and ITP File Format Specifications are available.

• Vendor ID Required for QRXS Transactions

  A valid Vendor ID is required for QRXS transactions and may be obtained through the File Specifications Access page. QRXS transactions submitted without a valid Vendor ID will be rejected.

  For more information about including the Vendor ID in a QRXS submission file, see the QRXS File Format Specifications by logging in to the File Specifications Access page using your Vendor ID.

• Data Banks "Turn the Page"

  In an effort to reduce paper waste, report notification documents as well as self-query results are now duplex-printed before being mailed.

• Reconciling Your Billing Statements Is Easier

  Batch queries are now billed as a single charge, per Data Bank, regardless of whether extra processing time is required for some subjects. This change will enable easier reconciliation of query batches with your bank or credit card statements.

• IQRS Adds "Smart" School Input Fields

  When a report on a physician is entered, the IQRS now suggests medical school names based on data you type into the Professional School field. You may choose a school that the IQRS suggests or enter a different school.

June 2009

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• PDS Available for QRXS

  The Data Banks will accept Proactive Disclosure Service (PDS) transactions via the QRXS effective June 15, 2009. The PDS is a time and money saving alternative to traditional querying.

  QRXS File Format Specifications for PDS are available.

• Code List Updates

  Significant updates have been made to the following code lists:

  • Practitioner Occupation/Field of Licensure Codes
  • Adverse Action Report Basis for Action Codes
  • Adverse Action Report Adverse Action Classification Codes

  Complete code lists are available as a PDF document or as a comma separated values file.

• Enhancement to IQRS Historical Report Searching

  Searching for historical reports within the IQRS has become easier. Entities may now search for reports submitted by just their organization, by authorized agents on their behalf, or by their organization and agents on their behalf.

May 2009

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• Public Use Data File Updated

  The NPDB Public Use Data File has been updated to include disclosable statistical report information received from September 1, 1990 through March 31, 2009. The file does not contain any information that identifies individual practitioners or reporting entitites and is designed for statistical analysis only.

April 2009

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• ITP Being Phased Out

  The Interface Control Document (ICD) Transfer Program (ITP) is being phased out and replaced with the next generation interface for high-volume queriers and reporters, the Querying and Reporting XML Service (QRXS). The QRXS offers numerous benefits over the legacy ITP.

  ITP software vendors and users should begin planning to migrate to the QRXS. The Data Banks are no longer developing enhancements to the ITP and will not develop additional ITP interface features for the Proactive Disclosure Service Prototype (PDS). The time table for the phase-out has yet to be defined.

• The PDS Keeps You Organized

  The Proactive Disclosure Service Prototype (PDS) now sends you monthly e-mails summarizing your entity's PDS activity. The e-mail notification includes information on upcoming enrollment renewals, new subject enrollments, cancellations, unviewed output, and report disclosures. See our sample e-mail notification.

  All entities with querying privileges are eligible to participate in the PDS.

• Automatically Renew Your PDS Enrollments

  The PDS now saves you even more time by allowing Entity Data Bank Administrators to automatically renew their PDS Enrollments. For more information, see the Fact Sheet on Renewing a Subject Enrollment in the Proactive Disclosure Service Prototype (PDS).

• PDS Renewal and Cancellation Confirmations Are Now Available

  Entities renewing or cancelling subjects in the PDS may now elect to receive confirmation of their PDS renewals and cancellations. Additionally, entities may choose to receive any reports related to their renewed subjects.

• Generate Ad-hoc PDS Enrollment Confirmations

  Record keeping becomes even simpler as PDS Enrollment Confirmations may now be generated on an as-needed basis. As many as 1,000 PDS Enrollment Confirmations may be requested at a time.