VA Physician and Health Professional Legal Representation

Veterans Administration (VA) Physician and Employee Legal Representation

The attorneys of The Health Law Firm routinely represent VA physicians, psychologists, nurse practitioners, mental health counselors, social workers, nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals.

VA Handbook 1100.19, Credentialing and Privileging, requires that the VA hospital to afford you due process of law and fundamental fairness at every step of the process in any clinical privileges action.  This includes:

1. Timely advance notice of the specific allegations made against you;
2. The evidence that is to be used against you;
3. Representation by an attorney for the proceedings;
4. Advance notice of witnesses and documents that may be used against you;
5. The opportunity to prepare a defense to the allegations;
6. The right to cross-examine witnesses;
7. The right to introduce evidence (documents and witnesses, including expert witnesses) in your defense;
8. A hearing before a neutral and unbiased hearing panel;  and
9. Other such rights.

Attorneys who are not familiar with such hearings may be unaware of your rights or how to properly exercise and safeguard them.

Don’t seek legal advice from your colleagues, from your accountant or from an attorney who does not specialize in health law and clinical privileges matters. Also, we don’t recommend shopping around for the cheapest attorney you can find.

Please do not hire a personal injury attorney, a civil litigation attorney, an employment law attorney or any other attorney without health law experience. Your professional life, career and medical license are at stake. You are in the fight of your life. Treat it as such.

If you were diagnosed with a brain tumor, would you attempt to perform your own brain surgery? Would you shop around to find the cheapest neurosurgeon to perform the surgery? Or would you look for the best? Yet, physicians routinely believe they can represent themselves in such matters. In our experience, this simply is not the case.

Far too frequently we are contacted by physicians after the investigation has been completed, after the hearing has been held and after the physician’s clinical privileges have been revoked. Except for an appeal on very narrow grounds, little can be done.

If the VA revokes your clinical privileges, by regulation, this will be reported to the NPDB and to every state in which you have a license. The NPDB report remains on your file for 50 years. Any time in the future you apply for clinical privileges, for a medical license or for medical malpractice insurance, this report will come up and cause you serious problems. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain employment or to obtain clinical privileges in any hospital or institution with such an adverse NPDB report in your file. Additionally, any state in which you hold a license will also most likely open an investigation against your medical license based on the adverse NPDB report.

NPDB reports can be mitigated by filing an explanatory rebuttal (as is your right) or by filing a request for a Secretarial Review (appeal) or both. We can do this for you. However, it is easiest and best to prevent a NPDB report from being filed to begin with.

We represent VA health professionals in hearings and proceedings held pursuant to VHA Directive 1100.18, VHA Directive 1100.19, VHA Directive 1100.20, and VHA Directive 1350.


Statements in VA Investigations of Complaints of Adverse Care

Often a VA physician or other health professional will receive correspondence from the VA advising that an investigation regarding adverse care is being conducted and you are requested to provide a written statement about the care. This also frequently happens to those who are no longer VA employees. This matter usually occurs if there has been a Federal Tort Claim filed by a patient or the patient’s next of kin or estate, but may also be prompted by other investigations or inquiries, such as an Inspector General’s investigation or a Congressional inquiry.

It is very important to obtain the relevant documents to review prior to making the statement and to prepare a well-organized, well-written, professional letter back to the VA explaining your involvement in detail. This can help prevent later adverse action against you or and adverse NPDB report being filed against you (see immediately below).

We routinely assist VA physicians and other employees and ex-employees in obtaining records and preparing such statements.


Responding to and Rebutting Proposed NPDB Reports

Often a VA physician or other health professional will receive correspondence from the VA advising that a National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) report is being considered against her or him. This also happens frequently to those who are no longer VA employees.  Regardless, you must cooperate.  Otherwise is to risk an adverse NPDB report being filed against you.

This matter usually occurs if there has been a Federal Tort Claim filed by a patient or the patient’s next of kin or estate, and it has been settled, paid, or resulted in a court verdict against the VA. The law and VA regulations require that NPDB reports on the payment be filed naming the individuals involved. However, if your care was not a cause of the patient’s adverse outcome, then you should not be named by the vA in a NPDB report.

It is very important to obtain the relevant documents to review prior to making the statement back to the VA and to prepare a well-organized, well-written, professional letter explaining why your actions were not the cause of the patient’s adverse outcome.  You must do your best to avoid an adverse NPDB report which can damage your career and cause a host of other collateral adverse actions to occur to you.

We routinely assist VA physicians and other employees and ex-employees in obtaining records and preparing such “rebuttal” statements to convince the reviewing VA officials not to make an adverse NPDB report on you.


VA Facilities from Which We Represent Physicians and Health Professionals

We represent VA physicians, psychologists, nurse practitioners (ARNPs), mental health counselors, social workers, nurses, nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), pharmacists, and other health professionals with problems, from any of the following VA facilities: