The Data Bank is committed to maintaining accurate information so that you are represented fairly by the reports that are disclosed. However, the Data Bank is legally prohibited from making any changes to the reports. The health care organizations are responsible for providing accurate information in the reports they submit. If you are the subject of a Medical Malpractice Payment Report, Adverse Action Report, or Judgment or Conviction Report, you can submit a statement and/or place the report in dispute if you disagree with the information reported to the Data Bank.
A statement and/or a dispute that you add can only be removed by you, the practitioner who submitted it. When writing a statement, you cannot include any personal identifying information about patients or other persons. When a statement and/or dispute is added to a report, it is disclosed to the reporter, all queriers who have received a copy of the report during the past 3 years, and to those who receive the report in the future.
To Dispute a Report
To place your report in dispute status, you must follow these steps:
- On the Data Bank Web site, click Respond to a Notification on the Data Bank home page. The Respond to a Notification page displays.
- On the Respond to a Notification page, enter the Report Number and Password provided in your notification of the report and then click Sign In.
- Read through the information on the Rules of Behavior page, check the box to acknowledge the rules, and then click Continue.
- On the Report Response Options page, click Statement and Dispute. The Subject Statement and Dispute page appears.
- On the Subject Statement and Dispute Page, you can add a statement of up to 4,000 characters in the Subject Statement section. You can also place the report in dispute by checking the box in the Dispute section.
- Check to see that your address information is current and update it if necessary. Enter your Certification information and click Continue.
- On the Subject Statement and Dispute Status page, click Continue when you have completely read and verified the information on the page.
- Once a report is in dispute, contact the health care organization that entered the report to resolve the issue.
What Next?
Once a report is placed in dispute, the reporting health care organization can correct the report, void the report, or choose to leave the report unchanged. If after 30 days you have received no response from the reporting health care organization or you are unsatisfied with the response you received, you can elevate the case to Secretarial Review. See How to Elevate a Report to Secretarial Review for more information.