38 U.S.C. § 7414 — Compliance with requirements for examining qualifications and clinical abilities of health care professionals

(a) Credentialing. The Secretary^* must ensure that each Department^* medical center, consistently, compiles, verifies, and reviews documentation for each Department health care professional at that center about: (1) the professional’s licensure, certification, or registration; (2) whether the professional holds a Drug Enforcement Administration registration; and (3) the professional’s education, training, experience, malpractice history, and clinical competence. The Secretary must also ensure that each center continuously monitors changes to those matters, including suspensions, restrictions, limitations, probations, denials, revocations, and other changes related to a health care professional’s failure to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice in a way that reasonably concerns patient safety.
(b) Controlled substances. (1) Unless paragraph (2) applies, the Secretary must ensure that each covered health care professional holds an active Drug Enforcement Administration registration. (2) The Secretary must: (A) decide the circumstances in which a Department medical center must obtain a waiver under section 302(d) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 822(d)) for covered health care professionals; and (B) establish a process for medical centers to request those waivers. (3) In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary must ensure that each Department medical center monitors the Drug Enforcement Administration registrations of covered health care professionals at that center in a way that ensures the center learns of any registration-status change no later than seven days after the change. (4) If a covered health care professional does not hold an active Drug Enforcement Administration registration, the Secretary must take any of these actions that the Secretary considers appropriate: (A) obtain a waiver under paragraph (2); (B) transfer the professional to a position that does not require prescribing, dispensing, administering, or conducting research with controlled substances; or (C) take appropriate action under subchapter V of this chapter for a Department employee, or appropriate contract-administration action for a Department contractor.
(c) Reviews of concerns about clinical-care quality. (1) The Secretary must ensure that each Department medical center, consistently, carries out: (A) ongoing, retrospective, and comprehensive monitoring of the performance and quality of health care delivered by each Department health care professional at the center, including the safety of that care; and (B) timely, documented reviews of that care if an individual notifies the Secretary of a possible concern that a Department health care professional failed to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice in a way that reasonably concerns patient safety. (2) The Secretary must establish a policy for carrying out paragraph (1). The policy must include: (A) deciding how long a medical center may take to begin reviewing a concern described in paragraph (1)(B) after receiving it; and (B) ensuring that each medical center complies with the policy.
(d) Reporting clinical-care quality concerns. If the Secretary substantiates a concern about a Department health care professional’s clinical competence or the quality of care delivered by that professional, including a former Department health care professional, the Secretary must ensure that the appropriate Department medical center timely notifies, as appropriate: (1) the appropriate licensing, registration, or certification body in each State^* where the professional is licensed, registered, or certified; (2) the Drug Enforcement Administration; (3) the National Practitioner Data Bank established under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11101 et seq.); and (4) any other relevant entity.
(e) Settlement terms. (1) The Secretary may not settle an adverse action against a Department professional if the agreement requires concealing from the employee’s personnel file a serious medical error or clinical lapse that substantially fails generally accepted standards and reasonably raises patient-safety concern. (2) This does not limit an employee’s appeal of a quality-of-care decision or rights under sections 1214 and 1221 of title 5.
(f) Training. At least annually, the Secretary must provide mandatory training to employees responsible for credential review, clinical-care review, adverse privileging or other discipline and employment decisions based on clinical-standard failures raising patient-safety concern, and notifications under (d).
(g) Definitions. (1) “Controlled substance” has the meaning in Controlled Substances Act section 102. This section does not define that term. (2) “Covered health care professional” means a Department employee or contractor in a professional position requiring authorization to prescribe, dispense, administer, or conduct research with controlled substances. (3) “Drug Enforcement Administration registration” means registration under Controlled Substances Act section 303 (the supplied text also cites section 302) by practitioners authorized to dispense, prescribe, administer, or research controlled substances. This section does not otherwise define “registration.” (4) “Health care professional of the Department” means a person working for the Department in a section 7401 position, including a contractor serving in one.