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Tailor professional reference questionnaires

Credentialing & Verification Update, January 17, 2007

The Joint Commission's 2007 prepublication standards show that the accreditor is paying more attention to issues of professionalism and communication than it has historically.

As a result, says Sally J. Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS, a consultant with The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., when obtaining references, professional reference questionnaires must drill down to obtain the information the hospital wants gathered on a practitioner's interpersonal and verbal communication skills, as well as his or her level of professionalism.

Pelletier advises that professional reference questionnaires meet the following criteria:

• At least one reference must reflect personal knowledge of the applicant's current clinical ability, ethical character, health status, and ability to work cooperative with others
• At least one reference must be completed by a practitioner within the same specialty or subspecialty areas as the applicant
• At least one reference must be submitted by an individual (e.g., a clinical department or section head, or a program director) who was recently responsible for the applicant's practice at a healthcare organization
• References must be submitted by individuals who acquired the requisite knowledge through recent observation of the applicant's professional performance over a reasonable period of time

If the references provided by the applicant don't meet the criteria, then the hospital must request additional references.

Note: Professional references shouldn't be provided by the applicant's current or former business partner, a practitioner planning to partner with the applicant, an individual from the group that the applicant is joining, or from a practitioner related to the applicant.

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