NPDB Insights - June 2024

Is It Reportable?

A state agency responsible for licensing skilled nursing facilities suspended a facility's license after substantiating several serious quality of care complaints against the facility. Is this reportable to the NPDB?

Yes. State licensing and certification authorities must report adverse actions resulting from a formal proceeding, such as a revocation or suspension of a license, taken against a health care practitioner, entity, provider, or supplier.

Your Role as a Data Bank Administrator

What Are the Responsibilities of a Data Bank Administrator?

Fulfilling the role and responsibilities of a Data Bank administrator is key to your organization's maintenance of continuous NPDB operations. Data Bank administrators are responsible for creating new user accounts, designating roles for existing user accounts, and deleting user accounts if users leave your organization.

More key functions of a Data Bank administrator include:

• Maintaining and renewing your organization's registration
• Completing attestation
• Maintaining query fee payment options
• Designating agents on behalf of the organization
• Designating one or more backup Data Bank administrators and training them on key functions

Quick Tip!

The NPDB highly recommends establishing multiple Data Bank administrators. With multiple administrators, you are less likely to get locked out if your Data Bank administrator's employment status changes. Lockouts can cause delays since regaining access may require additional paperwork and identity verification.

First Steps to Becoming a Data Bank Administrator

You must have a user account in order to become a Data Bank administrator.

If your organization already has a Data Bank administrator, all you have to do is have the current administrator add the administrator role to your user account. If you don't have a user account, the administrator can create one for you. (It is a good practice to designate a backup administrator in advance, in order to prevent delays or lockouts when staff roles change.)

If your administrator is no longer with your organization and you have a user account, you will need to contact the NPDB's Customer Service Center (CSC) for assistance. (The CSC needs to send you a form to complete and return, so this process can take up to several business days.)

If your administrator is no longer with your organization and you do not have a user account, you must complete the entity registration process to create a user account as the new Data Bank administrator. We will review the information you provide to confirm your organization is registered and verify your affiliation. Once we complete our review, we will email you instructions on how to access your organization's account as the new administrator. (This requires processing time by the CSC.)

For step-by-step instructions, visit the How to Become the New Administrator for your Registered Organization page and select the option that applies to you.

Reporting Deceased Practitioners

While several factors can determine whether an action or malpractice payment must be reported, the fact that a practitioner is deceased does not change the reportability. If you took an otherwise reportable action against, or paid to settle a malpractice claim for, a now-deceased practitioner, you must report it to the NPDB. You should not report a deceased practitioner because they are deceased.

It is important to submit accurate and timely reports, even when the practitioner is deceased. In doing so, you may prevent a fraudulent practitioner from assuming the deceased practitioner's identity. When submitting a report on a deceased practitioner, you must indicate that the practitioner is deceased in the "Is the Person Deceased?" field of Section 1 (Subject Information) of the NPDB Report submission form.

Visit Chapter E: Reports of the NPDB Guidebook for more reporting help and resources.