• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Tasting the alphabet soup of proctoring requirements

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, February 11, 2010

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Credentialing Resource Center Connection!

Anne R. Buss, CPMSM, CPCS, is a medical staff consultant based in Fayetteville, AR.

Dear readers,

In a department meeting this week I heard a service center medical director (SCMD) stammer and stutter trying to get out a report filled with proctoring acronyms. It can be difficult for audiences to follow along in such meetings with acronyms like FPPE, OPPE, and the rest of the alphabet soup of proctoring requirements being spoken. And the audio acrobats are only the beginning of the complexities.

I have tried to impress upon the administrative team that everyone is struggling with the Joint Commission standards relating to ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) and focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE). Putting a plan together and designing the forms and a process for carrying out the plan has taken up time in meeting after meeting. Who will fill out the plan, not to mention the evaluation? Who will serve as the proctor? Which physicians should be evaluated? When should the evaluations take place? There seem to be more questions than answers. 

Luckily, the answers do not have to be complicated. The SCMD, (aka department chief) can determine the time period, the source of the data, and how the data is to be evaluated. Some facilities have already determined how many cases per physician must be reviewed (i.e., the first 10 inpatient cases, the first five procedures, the first five deliveries, including c-sections). If you are using inpatient numbers, you may find that physicians coming on to your medical staff who have been in practice over a period of years will require less time to meet your established criteria than, for example, a provider that has been inactive for a year. Physicians who have completed a residency or fellowship within the previous two years and to whom you are not granting new privileges do not have to undergo FPPE unless the SCMD recommends it.

Proctoring may be done, prospectively, concurrently, or retrospectively. It can be done by the section or department head if the medical staff is small.
 
This recipe may not meet the needs of your facility given its size and or services. Tracking FPPE may be complicated and require more time initially for the medical staff services department. But the goal is to assure that all initial applicants are competent for the newly requested privileges. Additionally, FPPE is used to evaluate the competency of current medical staff members when their competency is questioned. 

The more you think about it, FPPE really is like alphabet soup. Don’t let your soup get cold and don’t let your FPPE process sit on the shelf without evaluating it. If your soup gets cold, it’s time to put it in the microwave. If you’re FPPE process gets cold, meet with department chairs to reevaluate the process.

Hang in there and next time I will make some OPPE. You bring the desert.

Remember, those who are afraid to ask are afraid to learn.

All the best,

Anne R. Buss, CPMSM, CPCS

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Credentialing Resource Center Connection!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive