May 27--More than a third of Michigan hospitals have never reported a single doctor disciplinary action against a physician in 17 years of a national database, according to a new report released today by a Washington, D.C., health watchdog organization.

Nationwide, nearly half of all hospitals failed to report actions against doctors to the National Practitioner Data Bank between Sept. 1, 1990, when the database began, through December 2007, the report found. It was conducted by Public Citizen's Health Research Group.

The national data bank provides hospitals and other medical providers with a way to check a doctor's background. It is not open to the public. There currently is no way for consumers to find out which hospitals report doctor medical competency or conduct issues to the bank.

Federal law requires hospitals to report physicians who have had their admitting privileges revoked or restricted for more than 30 days. Public Citizen charged that hospitals use loopholes in the law, avoiding filing requirements by putting doctors on leave, or disciplining them for less than 30 days.

Even doctors with more than two disciplinary actions weren't reported to the database, the report found.

In all, U.S. hospitals filed 11,221 reports to the data bank in its first 17 years, significantly less than the 10,000 a year expected by industry leaders and 5,000 a year the government estimated before beginning the system.

It is run by the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Public Citizen Thursday sent a letter and recommendations on the issue to HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius. One recommendation would tie a hospital's Medicare reimbursement with its participation in the data bank.

David Seaman, senior vice president for the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, had no immediate comment on the report.

The report and recommendations are at www.citizen.org.

Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT: 313-222-5021 or panstett@freepress.com.

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