Credentialing & Privileging | 02.03.21
Disciplinary Actions Against Doctors Have Plunged During the Pandemic, but That Doesn’t Mean They Are Behaving
by CNBC News
CNBC News (01/29/21)
The healthcare profession is under unprecedented stress because of the COVID-19 crisis. Somewhat surprising, though, disciplinary actions against physicians were down sharply in the first three quarters of last year, with 4,393 adverse action reports recorded against physicians in the National Practitioner Data Bank. That compares with 5,225 reports during the same time span in 2019. The tallies include 3,752 actions taken by state licensing boards. Also through September 2020, 641 doctors had their clinical privileges limited or suspended versus 704 a year prior. Some healthcare experts believe the decreases are due to an acute shortage of healthcare workers instead of any improvement in quality. Meanwhile, critics still warn that the system is set up to let problem doctors "slip through the cracks" despite sweeping reforms.
Read the full story from CNBC News.