OIG examines agencies' failure to report malpractice cases

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently released a report detailing three Health and Human Services agencies' failure to report a total of 474 medical malpractice cases to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

OIG recommended that Indian Health Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and National Institutes of Health address the unreported cases, improve internal controls involving case files management, and assign staff to answer practitioner questions and complaints as part of a corrective action process.

The HRSA responded to the report by indicating that a plan regarding future reporting was in development and procedures to track new reports of malpractice payments had been revised.

Go to www.oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-12-04-00310.pdf to read the OIG report.