In the news: Study on NPDB reporting sparks debate over the effectiveness of peer review

In the June 4 issue of MS Leader Connection, we reported that hospitals aren’t reporting to the National Practitioner Data Bank as often as they should, according to “Hospitals Drop the Ball on Physician Oversight,” published by Public Citizen. This report has sparked debate over the effectiveness of physician peer review.

Robert M. Wachter, MD, professor and associate chairman of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a hospitalist pioneer, argues in a recent blog post that peer review doesn’t work for several reasons:

• Physicians have a tendency to protect their own, sometimes at the patients’ expense
• Credentials committee members are aware of the amount of time and effort that it takes to become a physician, which makes them reluctant to jeopardize a physician’s ability to make a living
• Physicians, by virtue of their personalities and training, are not adept at managing confrontations and conflict
• Although states have taken some steps to protect peer review, the threat of litigation is real and keeps some physicians mum

Read the full blog post and weigh in with your comments here.