Section 1921 of the Social Security Act

(Section 5(b) of PL 100-93, the Medicare and Medicaid Patient and Program Protection Act of 1987, as amended)

INFORMATION CONCERNING SANCTIONS TAKEN BY STATE LICENSING AUTHORITIES AGAINST HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS AND PROVIDERS

SEC. 1921. [42 U.S.C. 1396r-2]

(a) INFORMATION REPORTING REQUIREMENT. The requirement referred to in section 1902(a)(49) is that the State must provide for the following:

(1) INFORMATION REPORTING SYSTEM.--The State must have in effect a system of reporting the following information with respect to formal proceedings (as defined by the Secretary in regulations) concluded against a health care practitioner or entity by any authority of the State (or of a political subdivision thereof) responsible for the licensing of health care practitioners (or any peer review organization or private accreditation entity reviewing the services provided by health care practitioners) or entities:

(A) Any adverse action taken by such licensing authority as a result of the proceeding, including any revocation or suspension of a license (and the length of any such suspension), reprimand, censure, or probation.

(B) Any dismissal or closure of the proceedings by reason of the practitioner or entity surrendering the license or leaving the State or jurisdiction.

(C) Any other loss of the license of the practitioner or entity, whether by operation of law, voluntary surrender, or otherwise.

(D) Any negative action or finding by such authority, organization, or entity regarding the practitioner or entity.

(2) ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS. --The State must provide the Secretary (or an entity designated by the Secretary) with access to such documents of the authority described in paragraph (1) as may be necessary for the Secretary to determine the facts and circumstances concerning the actions and determinations described in such paragraph for the purpose of carrying out this Act.

(b) FORM OF INFORMATION.--The information described in subsection (a)(1) shall be provided to the Secretary (or to an appropriate private or public agency, under suitable arrangements made by the Secretary with respect to receipt, storage, protection of confidentiality, and dissemination of information) in such a form and manner as the Secretary determines to be appropriate in order to provide for activities of the Secretary under this Act and in order to provide, directly or through suitable arrangements made by the Secretary, information--

(1) to agencies administering Federal health care programs, including private entities administering such programs under contract,

(2) to licensing authorities described in subsection (a)(1),

(3) to State agencies administering or supervising the administration of State health care programs (as defined in section 1128(h)),

(4) to utilization and quality control peer review organizations described in part B of title XI and to appropriate entities with contracts under section 1154(a)(4)(C) with respect to eligible organizations reviewed under the contracts,

(5) to State medicaid fraud control units (as defined in section 1903(q)),

(6) to hospitals and other health care entities (as defined in section 431 of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986^[258]), with respect to physicians or other licensed health care practitioners that have entered (or may be entering) into an employment or affiliation relationship with, or have applied for clinical privileges or appointments to the medical staff of, such hospitals or other health care entities (and such information shall be deemed to be disclosed pursuant to section 427 of, and be subject to the provisions of, that Act),

(7) to the Attorney General and such other law enforcement officials as the Secretary deems appropriate, and

(8) upon request, to the Comptroller General, in order for such authorities to determine the fitness of individuals to provide health care services, to protect the health and safety of individuals receiving health care through such programs, and to protect the fiscal integrity of such programs.

(c) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION PROVIDED.--The Secretary shall provide for suitable safeguards for the confidentiality of the information furnished under subsection (a). Nothing in this subsection shall prevent the disclosure of such information by a party which is otherwise authorized, under applicable State law, to make such disclosure.

(d) APPROPRIATE COORDINATION.--The Secretary shall provide for the maximum appropriate coordination in the implementation of subsection (a) of this section and section 422 of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986.

^[257] See Vol. II, P.L. 99-660, Title IV.

To ensure that all features of this site work properly, use one of the following supported browser versions:

Netscape Communicator 7.2, 8.0 or 8.1 or Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, 6.0 SP2 or 7.0.