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Avoiding reappointment hassles: Sending reminder notices and charging late fees

Credentialing & Verification Update, May 7, 2008

MSPs often struggle to recieve information for practitioners' initial appointment or reappointment in a timely manner. Although the responsibility for providing the required information lies with practitioner, there are certain things the medical staff office (MSO) can do to be proactive.

Sending out reminder notices before critical items are due to expire helps put the item on the practitioner’s radar (or the radar of his or her office staff). Some credentialing requirements, such as life support certifications, take several months to renew—the practitioner must attend a renewal course, and, at times, it can take several months to find a class with an opening.

Sending reminder notices is a courtesy, of course, but they do help keep busy practitioners on track. Reminder notices also can be helpful for the practitioner after a reappointment packet has been sent. Often, a practitioner will contact the MSP after he or she receives the reminder notice to say the packet was never received and a new one must be sent. Like hospital MSOs, physicians' offices are busy places and files can easily be misplaced. Although it is the physician’s responsibility, unfortunately this is a very common scenario (or excuse) that MSPs hear on a routine basis.

Some organizations also have implemented late fees for practitioners who fail to return their reappointment application by the due date. If your organization incorporates the fees as a part of its policies, it can deem the reapplication incomplete if the fee is not enclosed.

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