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When to use a pre-application

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, October 4, 2006

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Many organizations use a pre-application process to determine a new applicant's eligibility to apply for medical staff membership or privileges based on the qualifications established in the medical staff bylaws.

If your facility uses this process, it should be applied in an objective manner by the medical affairs office or the vice president of medical affairs. Such a pre-application process should clearly outline for the potential applicant the qualifications that he or she must meet, consistent with those in the medical staff bylaws.

If your organization uses this process but has not recently evaluated its effectiveness or efficiency, it is time to examine the value and benefits of having a separate pre-application process.

To expedite turn-around time on applications and to foster a more efficient process overall, consider incorporating the pre-screening process into the main application procedure. For example, send a cover letter with the application packet summarizing the qualifications for membership and informing the interested practitioner that if he or she does not meet the qualifications, the practitioner is not eligible to apply.

Similarly, set up a procedure for notifying candidates if they return an application and it is later determined that they are ineligible to apply. This should not be a gray area: Either the applicant meets or does not meet the criteria to be eligible to apply for medical staff membership based on your organization's bylaws or supplementary documents. If the practitioner does not meet the criteria, an application for initial appointment will not be provided and the organization does not have an obligation to the practitioner to provide an application until such time as the potential applicant meets the qualifications.

Due to potential anti-trust and restraint of trade issues, the release of a full application packet to an interested practitioner should not be a subjective decision made by the department chair. Having a department chair put in a position where he or she might reject a request for an application places the department chair and the institution in the precarious situation of potentially being accused of anti-trust or anti-competitive activity and thus should be avoided.

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