Medical Staff

Ask the expert: What is the department chair's role in credentialing?

Medical Staff Leader Connection, July 22, 2010

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Generally, the department chair practices within the same specialty as the physician requesting privileges. He or she is in the best position to evaluate privilege requests and make initial recommendations. Department chairs drive medical staff criteria development, although all physicians should have input, and they create and enforce the focused professional practice evaluation and ongoing professional practice evaluation processes for members of their respective departments. Their recommendations are usually the first to be considered during the medical staff credentialing process. For example, the chair of the gastroenterology department at a hospital might be responsible for recommending specific privileges for a physician, developing an appropriate FPPE process, and suggesting the terms of appointment the medical staff should consider based on the applicant’s performance data. 
 

This week’s question and answer are adapted from Assessing the Competency of Low-Volume Practitioners: Tools and Strategies for OPPE and FPPE Compliance by Mark A. Smith, MD, MBA, CMSL and Sally Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS.



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