John Heyob is the new director of the Bureau of Health Professions’ Division of Quality Assurance, which oversees operation of the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB).  He succeeds Tom Croft, who retired last November.

Heyob served as deputy director of the bureau’s Division of Medicine and Dentistry prior to his appointment as DQA director.

The NPDB contains information on adverse licensure, clinical privileges, and professional society membership actions taken against physicians and dentists.  Other health care practitioners also may be reported.  In addition, the NPDB collects reports of medical malpractice payments made on behalf of health care practitioners.  The HIPDB is a national health care fraud and abuse data collection program for the reporting and disclosure of certain final adverse actions taken against health care providers, suppliers or practitioners.

Heyob has held a wide variety of staff and managerial positions in the Department of Health and Human Services, starting in 1968 as a public health advisor with the Centers for Disease Control.  In 1971 he was selected for the Health Services and Mental Health Administration’s management intern program.  Other notable assignments include serving as a senior policy analyst for Health Professions Programs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, as director of the Office of Health Planning in the Health Resources Administration, and as director of BHPr’s Office of Program Development.

Heyob earned a master of business administration degree from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. .