Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986

The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA 1986) has changed the way peer reviews are handled, giving immunity to reviewers regardless of their claims. We have collected a series of great articles to point out the harm this legislation has done.

THE FOX GUARDING THE HENHOUSE: How the HCQIA 1986 and state peer review protection statues have helped protect bad faith peer review in the medical community. full story...

AMENDING THE HCQIA, part 1: The key to drafting reasonable peer review legislation is... , written by William Hinnant, MD, JD full story...

AMENDING THE HCQIA, part 2: The entire HCQIA, with suggested amendments added into the document as well as suggested deletions, written by William Hinnant, MD, JD full story...

AMENDING THE HCQIA, part 3: Suggestions for amending the legislation, by Edward Gray Davis full story...

THE HCQIA 1986 as written by Congress: This is the legislation itself, written by Congress full story...
 

National Practitioner Data Bank

NATIONAL PRACTITIONER DATA BANK: The HCQIA established the controversial NPDB as a way for patients and hospitals to review the credentiels of physicians and avoid poor care. full story...

Medical errors, PEER-REVIEW & the NPDB, By Dr. Ron A. Virmani
Does this peer-review driven system of catching errors, educating and disciplining doctors and throwing out the "bad apples" really work as promised by the establishment? full story...