The Data Bank is dedicated to providing you with a process to ensure that reports contain accurate, complete, timely, and relevant information and meet the legal requirements. If you have disputed a report and the reporting health care organization has either not responded or has not resolved the matter to your satisfaction, you can choose to have the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) review the report. You must dispute a report before you can elevate it to Secretarial Review. If you have not yet disputed the report in question, refer to How to Dispute a Report for more information.
To Elevate a Report
To elevate your report to Secretarial Review, follow these steps:
- 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 and then select 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 Request Secretarial Review This button only appears on this page after you have placed the report in dispute for 30 days.
- On the Request for Secretarial Review page, you must enter your comments for the Secretary, following the instructions provided; as well as select the appropriate statement describing your reason for requesting the review.
- Check that your address is entered correctly, enter the Certification information, and click Continue. The Request for Secretarial Review Status page appears.
- On the Request for Secretarial Review Status page, if you are ready to elevate your report to Secretarial Review, read the instructions carefully and click Continue.
- Print two copies of the Request for Secretarial Review document. Keep one copy for your own records and mail a signed and dated copy to the specified address with the following information:
- Documentation substantiating that the reporting health care organization’s information is inaccurate must be submitted. The documentation must directly relate to the facts in dispute and contribute substantially to a determination of the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and relevance of the report. The documentation must be 20 pages or less, including all attachments and exhibits; more information is requested if necessary.
- Proof that you attempted to resolve the disagreement with the reporting health care organization and that it was unsuccessful must be provided. For example, a copy of whatever correspondence you had with the health care organization, and their response, if any, fulfills this requirement.
What Next?
The Secretary reviews your disputed report to determine if the action is reportable, and whether the report accurately describes the reporter’s actions and reasons for action as stated in the reporter’s decision documents. The Secretary does not review the merits of a medical malpractice payment, or the appropriateness of/basis for an adverse action or a judgment or conviction. Issues of due process are not reviewed by the Secretary; you must resolve them with the reporting health care organization.
When the review is complete, the Secretary will decide whether a report is accurate, complete, timely, and relevant and whether the issues in dispute are outside the scope of Secretarial Review.