Notice2026-21673
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public Comment Request: National Practitioner Data Bank for Adverse Information on Physicians and Other Health Care Practitioners-45 CFR Part 60 Regulations and Forms, OMB No. 0906-0081-Revision
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Published
October 23, 2026
Issuing agencies
Health and Human Services DepartmentHealth Resources and Services Administration
Abstract
In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB will accept further comments from the public during the review and approval period. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30-day comment period for this notice has closed.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 204 (Friday, October 23, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 204 (Friday, October 23, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66856-66859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-21673]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request: National Practitioner Data
Bank for Adverse Information on Physicians and Other Health Care
Practitioners--45 CFR Part 60 Regulations and Forms, OMB No. 0906-
0081--Revision
AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department
of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA
submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted
during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB
will accept further comments from the public during the review and
approval period. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30-day
comment period for this notice has closed.
DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than November
23, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under Review--Open for
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance
requests submitted to OMB for review, email Samantha Miller, the HRSA
Information Collection Clearance Officer, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dcacbdacb9aeabb3aeb79cb4aeafbdf2bbb3aa"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c1b1a0b1a4b3b6aeb3aa81a9b3b2a0efa6aeb7">[email protected]</span></a> or call
(301) 443-9094.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Information Collection Request Title:
National Practitioner Data Bank for Adverse Information on Physicians
and Other Health Care Practitioners--45 CFR part 60 Regulations and
Forms, OMB No. 0906-0081--Revision.
Abstract: This is a request for a revision of the OMB-approved
information collection contained in regulations found in 45 CFR part 60
governing the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and the forms to
be used in registering with, reporting information to, and requesting
information from the NPDB. Administrative forms are also included to
aid in monitoring compliance with federal reporting and querying
requirements. Responsibility for NPDB implementation and operation
resides in HRSA's Bureau of Health Workforce.
The intent of the NPDB is to improve the quality of health care by
encouraging entities such as hospitals, state licensing boards,
professional societies, and other eligible entities \1\ providing
health care services to identify and discipline those who engage in
unprofessional behavior, and to restrict the ability of incompetent
health care practitioners, providers, or suppliers to move from state
to state without disclosure or discovery of previous damaging or
incompetent performance. It also serves as a fraud and abuse
clearinghouse for the reporting and disclosing of certain final adverse
actions taken against health care practitioners, providers, or
suppliers by health plans, federal agencies, and state agencies
(excluding settlements in which no findings of liability have been
made). Users of the NPDB include reporters (entities that are required
to submit reports) and queriers (entities and individuals that are
authorized to request information).
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\1\ ``Other eligible entities'' that participate in the NPDB are
defined in the provisions of Title IV, Section 1921, Section 1128E,
and implementing regulations. In addition, a few federal agencies
also participate with the NPDB through federal memoranda of
understanding. Eligible entities are responsible for complying with
all reporting and/or querying requirements that apply; some entities
may qualify as more than one type of eligible entity. Each eligible
entity must certify its eligibility to report to the NPDB, query the
NPDB, or both. Information from the NPDB is available only to those
entities specified as eligible in the statutes and regulations. Not
all entities have the same reporting requirements or level of query
access.
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The reporting forms, request for information forms (query forms),
and administrative forms (used to monitor compliance) are accessed,
completed, and submitted to the NPDB electronically through the NPDB
website at <a href="https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov">https://www.npdb.hrsa.gov</a>. All reporting and querying is
performed through the secure portal of this website. This revision
proposes changes to update burden totals as well as minor text changes.
In addition, this revision eliminates the Account Balance Transfer
Request form which allowed registered entities to transfer funds
between their accounts. The data collected on this form is part of an
electronic workflow that falls under a Paperwork Reduction Act
exemption for voluntary commercial transactions.
A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on July 17, 2026,
vol. 91, No. 136; pp. 44865-67. HRSA received one comment during the
60-day comment period from Highmark Inc. (Highmark), an independent
licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Highmark suggested
HRSA explore greater patient access to NPDB information, improve the
timeliness of reporting and data availability, implement safeguards to
avoid creating disincentives for error reporting and organizational
learning, and develop additional educational resources to assist the
public with understanding practitioner information.
By law, HRSA is unable to make information about specific health
care practitioners, entities, providers, or
[[Page 66857]]
suppliers available to the general public. Rather, information
available through the NPDB helps eligible entities make informed
hiring, credentialing, privileging, and licensing decisions that
promote patient safety. As such, HRSA recognizes the importance of
information reported to the NPDB being readily available to the
entities authorized by law to query the NPDB. Once submitted to the
NPDB, reports become immediately available to eligible entities.
Eligible entities using the NPDB's Continuous Query monitoring service
are notified of new reports for their enrolled subjects within one
business day. The NPDB is currently merging its One-Time Query and
Continuous Query services into a single query process. Under this
approach, eligible entities that query the NPDB will receive an initial
query response and will be enrolled in continuous monitoring for the
duration of the query period. If new or updated information is reported
to the NPDB during that period, the querying entity will be notified,
reducing the potential gap between when information is reported to the
NPDB and when it becomes available to an eligible entity with an active
query.
Health care entities and other entities that are required to submit
reports to the NPDB must submit a report to the NPDB within 30 days of
taking a reportable action. The NPDB system accepts reports from
eligible entities virtually 24/7 via both manual online entry and via
an automated machine-to-machine interface. Over the last 18 months,
over 75 percent of adverse action reports received were submitted on
time with an overall median reporting time of fewer than 14 days.
The NPDB maintains ongoing compliance education and outreach
efforts designed to support reporting entities in understanding and
meeting their reporting responsibilities. These efforts are continuous
and responsive to the needs of reporting entities, which regularly seek
NPDB guidance, education, and technical assistance regarding reporting
requirements and processes. The NPDB provides outreach and educational
resources through a variety of channels, including conference
presentations, other professional forums, educational sessions,
technical assistance, and direct engagement with reporting entities to
address questions, and clarify reporting responsibilities. The NPDB
also reviews reporting compliance for state licensing and certification
agencies to assess whether required information is being appropriately
reported to the NPDB. These efforts complement improvements to the
query process by ensuring that information that is required to be
reported to the NPDB is available to eligible querying entities and can
support health care quality, professional review, and other purposes
authorized by law.
Together, these efforts are intended to continue strengthening the
timeliness, completeness, and availability of NPDB information, in
accordance with the law.
Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The NPDB acts primarily
as a flagging system; its principal purpose is to facilitate
comprehensive review of practitioners' professional credentials and
background. Information is collected from, and disseminated to,
eligible entities (entities that are entitled to query and/or report to
the NPDB as authorized in Title 45 CFR part 60 of the Code of Federal
Regulations) on the following: (1) medical malpractice payments, (2)
licensure actions taken by Boards of Medical Examiners, (3) state
licensure and certification actions, (4) federal licensure and
certification actions, (5) negative actions or findings taken by peer
review organizations or private accreditation entities, (6) adverse
actions taken against clinical privileges, (7) federal or state
criminal convictions related to the delivery of a health care item or
service, (8) civil judgments related to the delivery of a health care
item or service, (9) exclusions from participation in federal or state
health care programs, and (10) other adjudicated actions or decisions.
It is intended for NPDB information to be considered with other
relevant information in evaluating credentials of health care
practitioners, providers, and suppliers.
Likely Respondents: Eligible entities or individuals that are
entitled to query and/or report to the NPDB as authorized in
regulations found at 45 CFR part 60.
Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the
information requested. This includes the time needed to review
instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to
a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise
disclose the information. The total annual burden hours estimated for
this ICR are summarized in the table below.
Total Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Average burden Total burden
Regulation citation Form name Number of responses per Total per response hours (rounded
respondents respondent responses (in hours) up)
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Sec. 60.6: Reporting errors, omissions, Correction, Revision-to- 9,103 1 9,103 .2500 2,276
revisions or whether an action is on Action, Void, Notice of
appeal. Appeal (manual).
Correction, Revision-to- 16,192 1 16,192 .0003 5
Action, Void, Notice of
Appeal (automated).
Sec. 60.7: Reporting medical malpractice Medical Malpractice Payment 11,232 1 11,232 .7500 8,424
payments. (manual).
Medical Malpractice Payment 702 1 702 .0003 1
(automated).
Sec. 60.8: Reporting licensure actions State Licensure or 16,608 1 16,608 .7500 12,456
taken by Boards of Medical Examiners. Certification (manual).
Sec. 60.9: Reporting licensure and State Licensure or 15,436 1 15,436 .0003 5
certification actions taken by states. Certification (automated).
Sec. 60.10: Reporting Federal licensure DEA/Federal Licensure....... 674 1 674 .7500 506
and certification actions.
Sec. 60.11: Reporting negative actions Peer Review Organization.... 10 1 10 .7500 8
or findings taken by peer review
organizations or private accreditation
entities.
[[Page 66858]]
Accreditation............... 10 1 10 .7500 8
Sec. 60.12: Reporting adverse actions Title IV Clinical Privileges 827 1 827 .7500 621
taken against clinical privileges. Actions.
Professional Society........ 24 1 24 .7500 18
Sec. 60.13: Reporting federal or state Criminal Conviction (Guilty 1,043 1 1,043 .7500 783
criminal convictions related to the Plea or Trial) (manual).
delivery of a health care item or service.
Criminal Conviction (Guilty 246 1 246 .0003 1
Plea or Trial) (automated).
Deferred Conviction or Pre- 60 1 60 .7500 45
Trial Diversion.
Nolo Contendere (no contest 34 1 34 .7500 26
plea).
Injunction.................. 2 1 2 .7500 2
Sec. 60.14: Reporting civil judgments Civil Judgment.............. 10 1 10 .7500 8
related to the delivery of a health care
item or service.
Sec. 60.15: Reporting exclusions from Exclusion or Debarment 1,455 1 1,455 .7500 1,092
participation in federal or state health (manual).
care programs.
Exclusion or Debarment 3,560 1 3,560 .0003 2
(automated).
Sec. 60.16: Reporting other adjudicated Government Administrative 791 1 791 .7500 594
actions or decisions. (manual).
Government Administrative 1,690 1 1,690 .0003 1
(automated).
Health Plan Action.......... 445 1 445 .7500 334
Sec. 60.17 Information which hospitals One-Time Query for an 1,584,245 1 1,584,245 .0800 126,740
must request from the NPDB. Individual (manual).
One-Time Query for an 4,040,137 1 4,040,137 .0003 1,213
Individual (automated).
Sec. 60.18 Requesting Information from One-Time Query for an 83,748 1 83,748 .0800 6,700
the NPDB. Organization (manual).
One-Time Query for an 43,869 1 43,869 .0003 14
Organization (automated).
Self-Query on an Individual. 266,839 1 266,839 .4200 112,073
Self-Query on an 665 1 665 .4200 280
Organization.
Continuous Query (manual)... 1,315,205 1 1,315,205 .0800 105,217
Continuous Query (automated) 1,779,886 1 1,779,886 .0003 534
Sec. 60.21: How to dispute the accuracy Subject Statement and 3,453 1 3,453 .7500 2,590
of NPDB information. Dispute.
Request for Dispute 117 1 117 8.0000 936
Resolution.
Administrative............................ Entity Registration 4,176 1 4,176 1.0000 4,176
(Initial).
Entity Registration (Renewal 15,020 1 15,020 .2500 3,755
and Update).
State Licensing Board Data 51 1 51 10.5000 536
Request.
State Licensing Board 346 1 346 1.0000 346
Attestation.
Authorized Agent Attestation 193 1 193 1.0000 193
Health Center Attestation... 781 1 781 1.0000 781
Hospital Attestation........ 3,293 1 3,293 1.0000 3,293
Medical Malpractice Payer, 260 1 260 1.0000 260
Peer Review Organization,
or Private Accreditation
Organization Attestation.
Other Eligible Entity 5,349 1 5,349 1.0000 5,349
Attestation.
Corrective Action Plan 10 1 10 .0800 1
(Entity).
Reconciling Missing Actions. 1,924 1 1,924 .0800 154
Agent Registration (Initial) 107 1 107 1.0000 107
Agent Registration (Renewal 380 1 380 .0800 31
and Update).
Electronic Funds Transfer 632 1 632 .0800 51
Authorization.
Authorized Agent Designation 167 1 167 .2500 42
Account Discrepancy......... 19 1 19 .2500 5
New Administrator Request... 191 1 191 .0800 16
Purchase Query Credits...... 7,282 1 7,282 .0800 583
Education Request........... 10 1 10 .0800 1
Missing Report from Query 10 1 10 .0800 1
Form.
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Total................................. ............................ 9,238,519 .............. 9,238,519 .............. 403,194
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[[Page 66859]]
Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2026-21673 Filed 10-22-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P
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