The February 17, 2011 Federal Register includes a proposed rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which would exempt law enforcement data connected to ongoing investigations from having to be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).
The Privacy Act already exempts law enforcement information connected to ongoing investigations from having to be reported to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB). Only law enforcement information connected to final adverse actions taken has to be reported.
The purpose of the rule is to prevent "[t]he premature disclosure of the existence of a law enforcement activity to an outside party(who may also be the subject of the investigation) could lead to, among other things, the destruction or alteration of evidence and the tampering with witnesses.”
HHS is accepting comments on the proposed rule through April 18, 2011. To see the proposed rule and instructions on how to submit comments, click here:
http://frwebgate1.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=nnKHXl/0/2/0&WAISaction=retrieve
Sources: BNA, Federal Register
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