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Moving toward paperless credentialing one step at a time

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, September 14, 2006

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Contemporary medical staff offices constantly seek ways to reduce the bureaucracy of the credentialing and privileging processes and ease the burden on the physician, the physician's office staff, and the personnel of the medical staff office. For example, less time devoted to obtaining and filing unnecessary documents can translate into more time spent on the critical tasks of evaluating and reviewing practitioners' files in preparation for credentialing and privileging decisions.

Efforts to reduce redundancy and bureaucracy can be done in conjunction with working toward a paperless process. Every step taken toward streamlining the efforts of the medical staff office enhances your organization's readiness to implement and sustain a paperless system.

Obtaining a copy of a diploma, board certification, or physician's license for the credentials file is customary for many medical staff offices. It may be a routine habit, established before technology widely available today allowed documents such as licenses and certifications to be easily forged. 

Credentials specialists and medical staff leadership would be wise to evaluate the value of obtaining and maintaining copies of licenses and certifications from practitioners themselves. Obtaining and documenting verification from the primary source or designated equivalent source is sufficient. By no longer requiring the medical staff office to obtain these copies, a number of other mundane tasks-the need to notify the physician  and the physician's office staff, for example, as well as the need to place follow-up phone calls or faxes-are also eliminated.   

Check your internal policies and state statutes, and consult with your hospital attorney to ensure that you are in compliance before deciding to eliminate inclusion of these types of documents in the credentials file.  Keep in mind, if there is a problem obtaining the verification, having an actual copy of the certificate may be helpful in tracking down the needed verification.

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