Medical Staff Newsletters

This monthly resource acts as a support system by providing time-saving tools, expert advice, and analyses to help you effectively manage an evolving medical staff organization.

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Medical Staff Briefing

Issue 12, December 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• ED physicians ask Congress for lliability protection on EMTALA care

  When people call the local police or fire department during an emergency, no one has to worry about...

• Florida hospitals apply lessons learned from hurricanes

  When Hurricane Wilma swept across the southern part of the state in October, Florida hospitals had...

• Beyond the medical staff office: MSP appointed to state medical board

  On their own turf, MSPs play the same role in the hospital that state medical boards play on a...

• Don’t let frustration impede communication

  New strategies to get more from the organization You’re feeling overworked, underpaid...

Issue 11, November 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Professional review immunity applied in disruptive behavior case

  A Pennsylvania hospital that revoked the privileges of a physician because of disruptive behavior...

• Cautionary tale emphasizes need to coordinate credentialing and recruiting

  Like many facilities, Putnam General Hospital in Hurricane, WV, was eager to add an orthopedic...

• CMS warns against specialty-hospital EDs

  General and community hospitals common complaint about specialty hospitals is that they are not...

• Expert answers in the wake of disaster

  Question: For those of us affected by Hurricane Katrina who are unable to process reappointments...

Issue 10, October 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Disclosure: New legal worry for med staff, credentialing professionals

  The paperwork about anesthesiologist Robert Lee Berry, MD, looked routine. When he started...

• Wisconsin launches system for credentialing volunteer providers

  Hurricane Katrina taught us numerous dramatic lessons. For hospital credentialing personnel, the...

• Expert witness on negligent credentialing sees overlooked warning signs

  As an expert witness on negligent credentialing cases, Becky Cochran, CPMSM, CPCS, sees firsthand...

Issue 9, September 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Lessons from a Missouri court case on peer review

  The courts are full of examples of hospital peer review, which, once under the scrutiny of a judge...

• Medical staff plays critical role in complying with patient safety goals

  Handwriting legibility, standard abbreviations, patient identification, critical test results, and...

• Essential questions to ask before credentialing AHPs

  JCAHO cleared up some confusion about credentialing AHPs when it added standards that require...

Issue 8, August 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Hospital puts focus on patient safety

  When physicians at Prince William Health System in Manassas, VA, receive their reappointment...

• New Texas law requires physicians to disclose hospital ownership

  When a new physician-owned specialty hospital opens for business, many community hospitals find...

• New Jersey law heightens health employee screening with background checks

  When checking references, it is often difficult to know what a former supervisor really thinks...

• MSPs weigh in: Criminal checks on medical staff

  Before your facility's human resources personnel adds a new employee to the hospital's staff, they...

Issue 7, July 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Language services translate to better patient care and satisfaction

  Communication between a member of your medical staff and a patient can be difficult when the...

• States tackle malpractice costs

  State legislators once again wrestled with medical malpractice reform during their 2004-2005...

• Credentialing audits keep files in compliance

  When she started her job as manager of medical staff services at Children's Memorial Hospital in...

• April showers bring more JCAHO bylaws news

  Medical services professionals (MSPs) can breathe a huge sigh of relief. The JCAHO announced it...

Issue 6, June 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Lessons learned from a California hospital’s lawsuit

  Medical staffs may disagree with their hospital chief executive officer (CEO), but such...

• Fee-for-service compensation can increase ED call panel participation

  Emergency department (ED) call panel participation has become the equivalent to jury duty in the...

• Beyond the mission statement: Award recognizes employees who 'live' core values

  The six core values of Owensboro (KY) Medical Health System (OMHS)-excellence, innovation...

• Six steps for developing a core privileging system

  Hospitals using core privileging systems were nervous last summer when rumors began circulating...

• CMS may relax regulations governing the authentication of verbal orders

  The ever-increasing focus on patient safety may have resulted in requests that you dig up your...

Issue 5, May 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Health system uses innovative strategies to recruit physicians

  Health system uses innovative strategies to recruit physicians Shortage of physicians predicted...

• Serving the uninsured: Volunteers treat patients and help the hospitals

  Serving the uninsured: Volunteers treat patients and help the hospitals McKinney, TX, is one of...

• The gift of a good policy: Guide physician/sales rep relationships to avoid viol

  The gift of a good policy: Guide physician/sales rep relationships to avoid violations You may...

• Ten steps to solving turf battles

  Ten steps to solving turf battles Case study: Cardiology imaging studies Privileging...

• NAMSS Consensus Alliance tackles redundant, time-consuming credentialing tasks

  Credentialing is critical to quality of care. But with hospitals, health plans, Medicare, and other...

Issue 4, April 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Older physicians may not be wiser

  A study published February 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine flies in the face of common wisdom...

• Hospitals turn to ISO certification as alternative to JCAHO

  A small but growing number of hospitals are opting for International Organization for...

• More MSPs pass revamped certification exam

  If you've thought about finally getting that piece of paper from the National Association Medical...

• Staying up to date on physicians' TB status

  Editor's note: Your medical staff colleagues continue to rely on "Medical Staff Talk" to gather...

Issue 3, March 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Launch a hospitalist program to ease your facility's burden

  Deciding to develop a hospitalist program is the first step in the process. The second and more...

• Legal watch: Court gets involved in medical board's disciplinary decisions

  The state medical board may not always have the last word when it comes to physician discipline...

• Locum tenens physicians can help staff juggle tasks

  Editor's note: In the November 2004 MSB, we sought to provide you with a primer on the use of...

Issue 2, February 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The day-to-day emergency in emergency departments

  In the December MSB, we reported on several solutions to address the crisis in on-call coverage of...

• How to promote and measure patient satisfaction

  Patient satisfaction is good medicine for patients, physicians, and hospitals. Studies show that...

• Core privileges: Sailing forward in the wake of the long awaited CMS letter

  The recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) letter stating its position on...

• MSPs: Know the legal hot topics for 2005

  Medical services professionals (MSPs) duties once revolved primarily around basic credentialing...

Issue 1, January 1, 2005 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Communication: The key to a sound hospitalist program

  Communication is the single most important component of a successful hospitalist program. Hospitals...

• Untangle JCAHO standards: Don't let confusion lead to unnecessary work

  Are you and your medical staff colleagues wasting valuable resources attempting to comply with...

• Getting to the core of CMS guidance on privileging

  On November 12, Thomas E. Hamilton, director of the survey and certification group, sent a...