Healthcare Data Bank Fee

User fee decreased for information on suppliers and practitioners

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has decreased the user fee payable for individuals or entities requesting information from the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank, which contains information on adverse actions (see below) taken against healthcare suppliers including pharmaceutical suppliers and manufacturers, manufacturers of healthcare products, durable medical equipment suppliers, and healthcare providers and practitioners¹. From 1 July 2003, the fee for obtaining information from this data bank will be decreased from $5.00 to $4.25 for each name queried, due to lower operating costs. The self-query fee of $10.00 (for individuals or entities requesting information pertaining to their own activities) will remain unchanged.

Background

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) , fees may be established to cover the costs of processing requests for disclosure and provision of information from this data bank. The data bank contains reports of adverse actions such as license revocations/suspensions, exclusions from participation in federal or state healthcare programmes, criminal convictions, civil judgements, and other adjudicated actions against healthcare providers, suppliers and practitioners. Depending on the action that has been taken, the appropriate agency is required by law to report such action within a specified timeframe. Entities authorised to obtain information from the data bank are federal and state government agencies, health plans, healthcare practitioners, providers or suppliers requesting information about themselves and those requesting statistical information without identifying any individual or entity (e.g. health plans can use statistical information to develop outcome measures in their efforts to monitor and improve quality care).

References

1. Federal Register , 22 April 2003, 68 (77), 19838-19839