NPRC Impaired Physician Review

It's usually one of the most poorly kept secrets within a hospital when the skills of a previously stellar physician begin to diminish. Reports come in and talk abounds but hospital decision­makers delay taking any action due to genuine affection for the physician and, of course, hospital politics.
  • Rather than wait for a serious incident where the physician endangers patient safety…
  • Rather than force the hospital's physicians to "do the dirty work" against their colleague who has been a mentor, a friend, and a referral source...
  • Rather than having the hospital's physicians suffer the political consequences of conducting the peer review of a stalwart of the community…

Let NPRC conduct the NPRC Impaired Physician Review.

During the NPRC Impaired Physician Review, NPRC investigates in order to separate truth from rumors and determine the real scope of the problem. Conducting interviews in a safe, objective environment that is free of hospital politics, NPRC gathers the facts and provides a clear and comprehensive report. The NPRC consultants will conduct a site visit, interviewing physicians, nurses, staff, and members of hospital administration to gain a broad and appropriate perspective. After the site visit, the NPRC physician expert(s) in the same specialty as the physician will review the statement of facts prepared from the interviews and provide the administrative recommendations in the NPRC Report. The NPRC Impaired Physician Review is not intended as a clinical evaluation of the physical condition of the physician, but an impartial review of the facts that yields expert administrative recommendations to guide the decision-making process, such as: 
  • The reports of impairment appear to be unfounded.
  • The physician requires a referral to the Physician Impairment Committee, if operational.
  • The physician requires a referral to an outside program or to a qualified physician for physical evaluation.
  • The physician should become subject of an extensive external or internal peer review to clarify the physician’s clinical competence. 
Once NPRC has conducted the NPRC Impaired Physician Review, the hospital and medical staff decision-makers will be able to make the appropriate decision based on the thorough and impartial information contained in the authoritative NPRC Report, avoiding the serious internal issues that often brings the review of an impaired physician to a standstill.