Medical Staff

Are you effectively using technology?

Medical Staff Leader Connection, April 11, 2007

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Management of medical staff services departments has become increasingly more complex over the past few years as a result of:

1. The introduction of more delegated credentialing relationships that MSOs must manage. 
2. The Joint Commission raising the bar related to privileging -designing and implementing criteria-based privileges is no longer something to put on the back burner until there is time to tackle it.
3. The evolution of privilege forms for advanced practice professionals, particularly for physician assistants and nurse practitioners (NP). A "one size fits all" form no longer works. For example, a privilege form for an NP who works in a general pediatrics clinic is quite different from a privilege form for an NP who works in a cardiac cath lab. 
4. An increasing number of MSOs are managing the credentialing needs of hospital-based (or employed) physicians. For example, if a hospital-employed physician holds multiple hospital appointments, the MSO is responsible for completing applications, sending documents, etc. to the organization where the hospital-employed physician is applying. 
5. The increased intensity of data-gathering to verify current competence.  Once criteria for privileges have been defined, the organization must validate that the applicant meets the established criteria.

I'm sure that those of you who have worked in the area of medical staff organization management for a number of years could add many more examples to the above list.
Although it is highly unlikely that the work of the MSO will become less complex, the good news is that technology can help MSOs manage the increased workload. Unfortunately, some MSPs have not been trained to use this technology. For example, while consulting at organizations across the country in the last few months, I've seen the following:

1. An MSO that has yet to use the credentialing database it purchased in 2001. They have four people manually credentialing 250 practitioners. They are stretched to the limit.
2. A large academic medical center that credentials over 800 practitioners still collects copies of diplomas; certificates of completion of internship, residency and fellowship programs; board certification, etc. They gather these certificates, file them, verify the information from the primary source, and file that paperwork. Their credentials files are huge!
3. A medical center, which purchased excellent credentials software that includes an electronic checklist, still uses manual checklists track the information it has received during the credentialing process. That means that every time one of the 500 physicians the office credentials a year calls the MSO to find out the status of his or her application, an MSP must dig through files to consult the checklist. I was in the MSO to witness the panic when the chief operating office called to find out the status of a file. The inquiry was prompted by a physician applicant's call to administration complaining about how long the credentialing process was taking.
4. An organization sends paper copies of privilege forms all over the organization because the MSO hasn't had the time to enter privileges into the credentialing database. The organization should use this database to make privileging forms available electronically to departments that need to confirm a practitioner's privileges.

These are just a few of many examples I could share. MSOs must take advantage of available technology.  Although some MSOs don't have access to technology, it is my experience that it is often the case that MSOs aren't using the technology at their fingertips.

Take a look at the technology that is available in your MSO. Have you reached the limits of how you can use what you have? Are there tasks that could be automated that haven't yet been tackled?  If you are lagging behind, make this the year that you put a plan together to use technology to run a more efficient MSO.

Good luck. I know it takes time, but the time spent pays off!

Until next week,

Vicki L. Searcy, CPMSM
Practice Director, Credentialing & Privileging
The Greeley Company
vsearcy@greeley.com
www.greeley.com


 



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