National Practitioner Data Bank/Healthcare Integrity and
Protection Data Bank
The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) was created by the Health Care Quality
Improvement Act of 1986 to track information on physicians and dentists. The goal
of the legislation was to encourage the peer review process, identify incompetent
or unprofessional practitioners and restrict their ability to move from state to
state without disclosure or discovery of previous damaging or incompetent practice.
The NPDB contains information on adverse licensure actions, clinical privileges
actions, and professional society actions taken against physicians and dentists.
Additionally, the NPDB collects reports of medical malpractice payments made on
behalf of all health care practitioners, including nurses.
Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB)
The Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 directed the
creation of the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB). The purpose
of HIPDB is to combat fraud and abuse in health care insurance and health care delivery.
HIPDB is a national data collection program for the reporting and disclosure of
certain final adverse actions taken against healthcare providers, suppliers and
practitioners. The following types of actions are included in HIPDB:
- Civil judgments in State or Federal court related to the delivery of a health care
item or service
- Federal or State criminal convictions related to the delivery of a health care item
or service
- Actions by Federal or State licensing and certification agencies
- Exclusions from participation in Federal or State health care programs
- Any other adjudicated actions or decisions as established in regulations.
The information in NPDB-HIPDB is not included in FACIS.