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A new report from a company that monitors the licensing, credentialing and malpractice litigation history of physicians finds that 1.9 percent of U.S. health care practitioners are practicing without a license and that 18.7 percent have a "cloud on their credentials," HealthLeaders Media reports. Researchers from Los Angeles-based Medversant Technologies analyzed a database that included background information on nearly 30,000 health care practitioners, including physicians, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other medical personnel, from 30 health care organizations, including hospitals, state governments, health plans and nursing registries. Specifically, researchers assessed the number of practitioners practicing without a license, who have one or more adverse findings, including malpractice, expired license and falsified credentials, and who have an adverse finding not reported by the National Practitioner Data Bank or the Excluded Parties List System. The researchers found that 20.4 percent of 20,243 physicians, 11.3 percent of 646 physician assistants, 9 percent of 1,621 nurse practitioners, and 8.7 percent of 5,475 allied health professionals had an adverse finding. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that the licenses or credentials of 1.6 percent of physicians and osteopaths, 5.1 percent of physicians assistants, 2.8 percent of nurse practitioners, and 2.7 percent of allied health professionals had expired, been canceled or revoked, or were otherwise inactive. The report says that the number of practitioners with credential or licensing problems or an usual number of malpractice payouts has increased since a previous report, in which 11.3 percent of 9,600 practitioners were found to be practicing with one or more of 52 "questionable findings" was conducted in February 2008, HealthLeaders Media reports. According to Medversant's chief executive officer, the findings are of particular importance to employers, as they may face serious consequences for hiring an unlicensed practitioner. He adds that the findings indicate the need for practitioner credentials to be "verified continuously" rather than the customary every two to three years (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 10/9/09; Medversant release, 10/7/09).