Most hospitals disclose the staff membership status of practitioners to any members of the public.
Many hospitals also report practitioners' specialties, general areas of privileges, foreign language capabilities, and office locations. Hospitals usually inform other health care organizations about medical staff membership status and length of membership. And with a practitioner's signed consent, some hospitals provide other health care organizations with some general details on a practitioner's practice record, such as number of admissions and number of procedures completed. When an inquiring organization asks for more details, a hospital might refer the request to the practitioner's department chair to decide what other details, if any, to provide. All of this should be considered in the light of the fact that practices are changing rapidly.