[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 185 (Friday, September 23, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59144-59145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24403]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


National Practitioner Data Bank; Name Change of Proactive 
Disclosure Service (PDS) to Continuous Query

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On March 7, 2007, the Health Resources and Services 
Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 
published in the Federal Register a notice announcing the 
implementation of a prototype for querying the National Practitioner 
Data Bank (NPDB), then known as Proactive Disclosure Service (PDS). 
This notice announces that the prototype status is removed and that PDS 
is now known as Continuous Query.

DATES: The effective date of this status upgrade and name change is 
September 23, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Division of Practitioner 
Data Banks, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services 
Administration, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 8-103, 
Rockville, MD 20857; telephone number: (301) 443-2300.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    On March 7, 2007, the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) 
published in the Federal Register (72 FR 10227) a notice announcing a 
Proactive Disclosure Service (PDS) prototype. The PDS was offered as an 
alternative to the traditional querying of the NPDB and allowed for on-
going monitoring of a practitioner's credentials. PDS is a subscription 
service that notifies subscribers, which are registered entities that 
are eligible to query the NPDB or the Healthcare Integrity and 
Protection Data Bank (HIPDB), of new information on any of their 
enrolled practitioners within 24 hours of the NPDB or HIPDB receipt of 
the information. The PDS prototype was available for enrollment 
beginning on April 30, 2007 to a select group of NPDB registered 
entities. A few months later PDS was opened to all NPDB registered 
entities, as well as to those registered in the HIPDB. In the last year 
(July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011), 1,965 entities had practitioner 
enrollments through PDS versus 14,370 entities that submitted 
traditional queries on

[[Page 59145]]

practitioners in the NPDB. Unlike a traditional query, PDS enrolled 
practitioners are continuously monitored and subscribed entities need 
not pay for multiple queries each time they want to access new 
information on a practitioner. The following table charts the growth of 
PDS enrollments beginning in June 2007 through June 2010 for the NPDB 
and the HIPDB:

                 Number of Practitioners Enrolled in PDS
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                   Month/year                        NPDB        HIPDB
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June 2010.......................................     481,794     125,649
June 2009.......................................     311,275     101,720
June 2008.......................................     113,631      12,592
June 2007.......................................      47,641       2,005
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    The number of enrollments is steadily climbing and re-enrollment 
rates for this service are approximately 90 percent. This service is 
quickly becoming the benchmark for monitoring practitioner credentials 
because it is designed and developed to meet new accreditation 
standards that require on-going monitoring of practitioners. In light 
of these developments, HRSA is making this service a permanent feature. 
The name change from PDS to Continuous Query better captures the true 
nature of this service, which is the continuous monitoring of enrolled 
practitioners.
    All aspects of the PDS querying service as described in the March 
7, 2007 notice are still in effect except for the upgrade from 
prototype to permanent status and the name change set forth in this 
notice.

II. Revisions to Previous Notice

    This notice is to inform the public that the prototype status for 
PDS is removed and that the name of the PDS querying service has been 
changed to Continuous Query.

    Dated: September 16, 2011.
Mary K. Wakefield,
Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-24403 Filed 9-22-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P