npdb                 package:UsingR                 R Documentation

_N_a_t_i_o_n_a_l _P_r_a_c_t_i_o_n_e_r _D_a_t_a _B_a_n_k

_D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n:

     Selected variables from the publicly available data from the
     National Practioner Data Bank (NPDB).

_U_s_a_g_e:

     data(npdb)

_F_o_r_m_a_t:

     A data frame with 6797 observations on the following 6 variables. 

     _s_t_a_t_e 2 digit abbreviation of state

     _f_i_e_l_d Field of practice

     _a_g_e Age of practictioner (rounded down to 10s digit)

     _y_e_a_r Year of claim

     _a_m_o_u_n_t Dollar amount of reward

     _I_D a practioner ID, masked for anonymity

     The variable names do not match the original. The codings for
     'field' come from a document on <URL:
     http://63.240.212.200/publicdata.html>.

_D_e_t_a_i_l_s:

     This dataset excerpts some interesting variables from the NPDB for
     the years 2000-2003. The question of capping medical malpractice
     awards to lower insurance costs is currently being debated
     nationwide (U.S.). This data is a primary source for determining
     this debate.

     A quotation from  <URL: http://www.npdb-hipdb.com/npdb.html>:

     "The legislation that led to the creation of the NPDB was enacted
     the U.S. Congress believed that the increasing occurrence of
     medical malpractice litigation and the need to improve the quality
     of medical care had become nationwide problems that warranted
     greater efforts than any individual State could undertake. The
     intent is to improve the quality of health care by encouraging
     State licensing boards, hospitals and other health care entities,
     and professional societies to identify and discipline those who
     engage in unprofessional behavior; and to restrict the ability of
     incompetent physicians, dentists, and other health care
     practitioners to move from State to State without disclosure or
     discovery of previous medical malpractice payment and adverse
     action history. Adverse actions can involve licensure, clinical
     privileges, professional society membership, and exclusions from
     Medicare and Medicaid."

_S_o_u_r_c_e:

     This data came from <URL: http://www.npdb-hipdb.com/npdb.html>

_E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s:

     data(npdb)
     table(table(npdb$ID))           # big offenders
     hist(log(npdb$amount))          # log normal?

