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Communication with practitioners

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, July 3, 2008

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Anne Roberts, CPMSM, CPCS, is the director of medical affairs at Children's Medical Center of  Dallas, where she oversees the medical administration, graduate medical education, and medical staff services departments.

Dear credentialing colleague:

In my role as director of medical affairs at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, one of my responsibilities is to oversee the majority of the communication that is circulated to medical staff members and physicians participating in training programs.

Communication with physicians can be somewhat challenging because there are many different types of physicians that provide services at our institution. The first step is to determine which audience needs to receive the message. For example, is the message important to physician leaders? Do we need to communicate the message to all medical staff members? What about physicians who may not be on the medical staff but refer a lot of patient to our hospital? Do we need to distribute the message to the residents and fellows who are participating in a training program at our facility? If so, which ones? The ones that are considered our house staff who spend the majority of their time here, or the ones who are completing a short rotation at our facility? Or both?

Once you determine which groups need to know the information, you also need to identify which communication vehicles are the most appropriate for the message and the set of providers receiving it. A lot of organizations are increasingly moving toward electronic means of communication. Consider the benefits: Radiologists are able to read films and other diagnostics from home, physicians are able to use wireless dictation and sign charts electronically, and patient information and test results are available online. As the world of medicine continues to move toward electronic communication, the MSO should consider updating and streamlining its efforts, as well.

Physician portals (physician specific websites that allow them to login and access specific information) are also available, and can be customized based on the physician’s specialty. For example, physician portals would allow you to:

• Populate the home page with news related to the physicians’ specialty
• Put information about their patients at their fingertips
• Add announcements to the portal
• Include direct access to the organizations policies, medical staff bylaws, rules and regulations and other important documents

MSOs, with the right software, can also tie their credentialing database to the physician portal so that physicians can access reappointment forms electronically and receive e-mail reminders. Physicians would also easily be able to notify the MSO through the portal regarding any changes to their address, phone number or other important contact information.

A lot of MSOs are also creating e-newsletters that they distribute to all members of the medical staff and house staff via e-mail. These newsletters are great tools for communicating policy changes, as well as updating the organization’s dangerous abbreviations lists, formularies, and new medical staff appointments. You can easily fax these newsletters if you have practitioners who prefer that method. Some credentialing programs have auto-fax capabilities, so these can be sent with the click of a button.

Finding ways to communicate with the medical staff through the various communication vehicles may be challenging. However, if you implement several different methods, you’re more likely to capture the entire audience.

Remember, clear, effective communication is the key to success!

That’s all for this week.

All the best,

Anne Roberts, CPMSM, CPCS

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