The National Practitioner Data Bank: an introduction

The National Practitioner Data Bank, mandated by law, has created a great deal of anxiety in the medical community. The author describes the origin, development, and operation of the bank. Army implementation procedures emphasize safeguards for practitioners and are also felt to be fully consistent with patient protection. Potential problems and areas for further research are described. Linking practitioner entry to standard of care or setting a dollar cut-off for entries are two possible solutions.