• Home
  • About
  • Links

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Fighting the corporate lobbying machine
Working towards increased FDA transparency »

Our hospital report featured again

June 22, 2009 by Linda Kurtz

Remember the report we issued on May 27 that outlined the failures of hospitals to report and discipline poor doctors? Well so do Charlie Gibson and ABC News because they covered our findings last night.

Watch the video here.

Our report found that nearly 50 percent of all hospitals in the United States failed to submit a single report to the National Practitioner Databank since its creation in 1990. The Databank was created to keep track of bad doctors by listing any practitioner who had their admitting privileges revoked or suspended for 31 days or more. That way, a hospital could easily check any doctor’s background before hiring him or her.

But this system has failed the very people it was trying to protect. Hospitals routinely exploit loopholes to avoid government requirements, such as the need to report to the Databank. 

Our report inspired coverage by CNN’s Lou Dobbs, The Miami Herald, The Detroit Free Press, and more. We also found a MediaNews (Calif.) editorial that agreed with us and continued by saying:

It’s obvious the U.S. Health and Human Services needs to examine the effectiveness of the database and consider stricter penalties on hospitals that do not report.

Here’s another problem: The databank is closed to the public and patients do not know if their doctors are on the list. What’s ironic is a person can find out if a contractor has done shoddy work on a home or an auto service dealer on a car, but information that could be the difference of life and death, a doctor’s track record, is withheld. Maybe that should change, too. Shouldn’t people have a right to know how well their doctors have performed?

Congress was on the right track when it established this database. Now it’s time to put some teeth in it.

We’re glad our report has raised these questions and we’ll keep you updated with any further developments.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Consumer Protection, Health | Tagged doctors, Health, hospital report |

  • Follow Our Tweets!

    • Demand the Senate pass Medicare for All: publiccitizen.salsalabs.org/tell-senate-pa… 32 minutes ago
    • Universal health care COULD NEVER WORK ...unless you live in: Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republ… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 50 minutes ago
    • Amazon has a shareholder meeting tomorrow where they will vote on important proposals that: 1. Expose how it avoi… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 hours ago
  • Support Our Work

  • Socialize With Us

  • Categories

  • Visit Our Other Sites

    • Public Citizen Read our reports and publications
    • Eyes on Trade Challenging globalization
    • Citizen Energy Fighting for a sustainable future
    • Law & Policy Justice for consumers
    • Texas Vox Activism from the Lone Star state
    • Worst Pills An independent pharma watchdog
  • Recent Comments

    Wellescent Health Bo… on The Midmorning Refill: Nancy P…
    Democracy Now! discu… on When it comes to cheating the…
    Marcia Everett on The Midmorning Refill: Mother…
    David Peterson on When it comes to cheating the…
    otto mandarin on Weissman: It’s not a pre…
  • Flickr Photos

    "Swamp Monster" DOI Video"Swamp Monster" DOI Video"Swamp Monster" DOI Video
    More Photos
  • access to justice Activism arbitration Avandia bailout banking big oil big pharma BP campaign contributions Campaign Finance campaign finance reform Chamber of Commerce Citizens United Citizens United v. FEC Climate Change Congress Consumer Protection corporate power credit cards DISCLOSE Act Don't Get Rolled economics economy elections Energy energy & climate EPA Ethics fair trade FDA fec financial reform first amendment free trade global warming gop government reform gulf of mexico Halliburton Health health & safety health care health care delivery health care reform Jon Stewart Lobbying lobbying and government ethics lobbyists McCain-Feingold medical malpractice money in politics nafta obama offshore drilling oil oilspill oil spill Open Government petition pharma political ads political advertising political contributions politics Rally to Restore Sanity scotus single-payer stephen colbert Supreme Court Transparency Transportation U.S. Chamber of Commerce wall street wto
  • Archives

  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • NetworkedBlogs
    Blog:
    Public Citizen - Citizen Vox
    Topics:
    progressive, reform, politics
     
    Follow my blog

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • citizenvox.wordpress.com
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • citizenvox.wordpress.com
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: