HHS Rule Keeps Information About Physician Misconduct Secret
McClatchy/The Kansas City Star: HHS Rules, Secrecy Protect Doctors With Long Histories Of Problems
Buried deep in a federal database is Practitioner No. 222117, perhaps the most frequently disciplined doctor in America. … But who is this doctor? … The Department of Health and Human Services imposed new rules this fall restricting how researchers and reporters can use anonymous information the government keeps in the database where No. 222117 resides — along with more than 196,000 other doctors with malpractice or discipline issues (Bavley, 12/20).