Credentialing & Privileging

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• Featured blog post: Joint Commission releases least complied with standards for first half of 2010

  The Joint Commission has released its list of least complied with standards for the first half of 2010. You can find the list in the September issue of Joint Commission’s Perspectives. Hospitals can use this list as a starting point for assessing their own compliance levels. If a standard is a problem area for a number of hospitals, it may be a problem for yours, too. It’s best to evaluate the problem and look for solutions before your next Joint Commission survey.
  
  Click here to visit the Credentialing Resource Center blog and keep reading.

• Commentary: Physician exam scandal inquiry raises more questions

  Looking for more information about the American Board of Internal Medicine’s review of suspected cheaters on the certification test. Check out the latest commentary from our sister publication HealthLeaders’ Media:
  
  The American Board of Internal Medicine's proposed sanctioning of 139 physicians by the ABIM for passing along and receiving exam questions from a test preparation company is getting messier.
  
  Here's why. A lengthy appeals process is underway, with potentially 80 lawyers involved, which always means complexities and various paths toward getting to the truth. And questions are growing, at least in my mind, about whom exactly the ABIM is targeting. One of those physicians cited for sanctioning includes someone who had taken the test at least two decades ago, sources tell me. ABIM proposed sanctioning this person, related to handling of the questions, and the potential is that the physician could lose his or her certificate.
  
  Click here to keep reading. 

• Tip of the week: Write specific interim staffer job descriptions

  Be specific when writing your interim staff member job description so it stands apart from others and provides clear expectations. For example, rather than saying he or she will work in a team environment, explain that he or she will work with two other FTEs and one part-time employee. Rather than saying he or she will provide critical medical staff support, say that he or she will process reappointment applications for 50 practitioners.
  
  This week’s tip is from, “Interim staffers are the superheroes of the medical staff services world” (Briefings on Credentialing, June 2009) archived online at www.CredentialingResourceCenter.com.

• Ask the expert: Why is it a myth that clinical privileges are defined, determined, and granted by the clinical department?

  The clinical department is involved in the credentialing process, but as MSPs are well aware, the department can grant recommendations but not approval of criteria and for privileges. In fact, it is necessary to consult with each clinical department to obtain appropriate criteria for applicants and reapplicants for privileges, but it is not within the department’s power to have the final say on criteria, or to make the final determination of privileging a candidate for application or reapplication.
  
  This week’s question and answer is from HCPro's Converting to Core Privileging: 10 Essential Steps to a Criteria-Based Program.

• Ask the expert: Why are hospitals responsible for negligent credentialing?

  A majority of courts in the United States have recognized expressly that a hospital has a duty to investigate, select, and retain only qualified and competent physicians as members of its medical staff.
  
  These courts have labeled a hospital’s failure to exercise this duty with a number of terms, including corporate or institutional negligence; negligent selection, retention, or supervision; and more commonly, negligent credentialing. Under this theory of liability, in which a patient is injured by an incompetent or unqualified physician, the hospital is directly responsible to the patient for the hospital’s failure to properly conduct the credentialing process—not for the negligent acts of the physician.
  
  This week’s question and answer is fromNegligent Credentialing Lawsuits: Strategies to Protect your Organization, by Amy E. Watkins, Esq. 

• How much does credentialing cost?

  Does your medical staff services department track how much it costs to credential each individual physician at your organization? Do you track how much it costs to perform primary source verifications for advance practice professionals?
  
  If so and you’d like to participate in a Briefings on Credentialing article about this topic, e-mail Associate Editor Emily Berry at eberry@hcpro.com.

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