Starting next week hospitals across the country will have access to a new federal database that tracks disciplinary actions against medical professionals. It’s designed to prevent incompetent and/or dangerous nurses, nurses’ aides, pharmacists, emergency medical technicians and other licensed health professionals from obtaining licenses in other states. But an investigation by the nonprofit journalism group ProPublica found that many states, including Illinois and Indiana, have failed to report significant amounts of data. ProPublica senior reporter Charles Ornstein explains the story. Their report on missing data in a federal medical professional database is published in the Chicago Tribune today.