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A turning point in information availability

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, August 16, 2005

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Dear credentialing colleague:

Thomas L. Freedman reports in his spellbinding bestseller "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century" that today, as never before, an individual can run but cannot hide from his past. The advent of the Internet has signaled the end of an era that allowed physicians to escape their past and that subjected even physicians with "normal pasts" to multiple, costly, and time-consuming attempts to confirm education, training, and experience from multiple and often secretive primary sources.

We are at a significant turning point, one that promises a new landscape. In the near future, confidential databases will give way to openness and consolidation. We can already see signs that this is happening. A few key strokes on the computer allows us to confirm a physician's education and training. In many states, a click of a mouse produces evidence of licensure, sanctions, and revocations. Board certification status is now verifiable by the public. But we still have some way to go. FACIS, the NPDB, numerous state board medical examiners, the Federation of State Medical Boards, the American Medical Association, and the American Osteopathic Association continue to maintain confidential databases containing information relevant to the credentialing process.

As these databases become open, it is highly likely that the powerful Internet search technology will allow instant access to all relevant information concerning a physician's past. The world is flat, but medical staff professionals and credentials committee members still struggle to assemble a complete picture of an applicant physician from multiple sources. Freedman's promise of a truly flat world will occur. It is simply a matter of time, broadband width, and industry and public pressure.

That's it for this week.

All the best,
Hugh Greeley
http://www.greeley.com/seminars

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