The power of the suggestion box

The National Practitioner Data Bank is in the process of revising its NPDB Guidebook for the first time since 2001. A lot has happened in 13 years in the world of healthcare and regulation, to say the least, so an update is necessary. What’s interesting is the way Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has gone about revising the guide: HRSA didn’t have to open up the process for public comment, but it did. Individuals and groups, including healthcare law firms, medical organizations and NAMSS, among others, answered the call and provided more than 300 responses.

HRSA now has the daunting task of sorting through all those comments and suggestions, then deciding what to add and where. The final NPDB Guidebook, due out later this year, will be the better for this “peer review.”       

As always, thanks for reading!

Mary Stevens, managing editor, Credentialing Resource Center