42 U.S.C. § 11133
Section 11133 · Reporting of certain professional review actions taken by health care entities
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 101 court decisions — leading case Mathews v. Lancaster General Hospital (1996)
Most recently applied in Adventist Healthcare v. Behram (August 2024)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 42 U.S.C. § 11101 · 42 U.S.C. § 11111 · 42 U.S.C. § 11112
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(1) On physicians
Each health care entity which—
(A) takes a professional review action that adversely affects the clinical privileges of a physician for a period longer than 30 days;
(B) accepts the surrender of clinical privileges of a physician—
(i) while the physician is under an investigation by the entity relating to possible incompetence or improper professional conduct, or
(ii) in return for not conducting such an investigation or proceeding; or
(C) in the case of such an entity which is a professional society, takes a professional review action which adversely affects the membership of a physician in the society,
shall report to the Board of Medical Examiners, in accordance with section 11134(a) of this title, the information described in paragraph (3).
(2) Permissive reporting on other licensed health care practitioners
A health care entity may report to the Board of Medical Examiners, in accordance with section 11134(a) of this title, the information described in paragraph (3) in the case of a licensed health care practitioner who is not a physician, if the entity would be required to report such information under paragraph (1) with respect to the practitioner if the practitioner were a physician.
(3) Information to be reported
The information to be reported under this subsection is—
(A) the name of the physician or practitioner involved,
(B) a description of the acts or omissions or other reasons for the action or, if known, for the surrender, and
(C) such other information respecting the circumstances of the action or surrender as the Secretary deems appropriate.
Each Board of Medical Examiners shall report, in accordance with section 11134 of this title, the information reported to it under subsection (a) of this section and known instances of a health care entity's failure to report information under subsection (a)(1) of this section.
(1) Health care entities
A health care entity that fails substantially to meet the requirement of subsection (a)(1) of this section shall lose the protections of section 11111(a)(1) of this title if the Secretary publishes the name of the entity under section 11111(b) of this title.
(2) Board of Medical Examiners
If, after notice of noncompliance and providing an opportunity to correct noncompliance, the Secretary determines that a Board of Medical Examiners has failed to report information in accordance with subsection (b) of this section, the Secretary shall designate another qualified entity for the reporting of information under subsection (b) of this section.
Any reference in this subchapter to a Board of Medical Examiners includes, in the case of a Board in a State that fails to meet the reporting requirements of section 11132(a) of this title or subsection (b) of this section, a reference to such other qualified entity as the Secretary designates.