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, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Drug-impaired physicians

  Some in the healthcare industry point to random drug testing of practitioners as a preventive...

• Solving the ED on-call crisis

  As the costs of stipends for specialists spiral out of control, some hospitals are recognizing that...

• Draft a credentialing plan for your hospital's AHPs

  The increased reliance upon physician assistants (PA) and advanced practice nurses (APN...

• Six core competencies: Evaluating mid-level practitioners

  Dameron Hospital Association in Stockton, CA, began accepting physician assistants (PA) and...

Issue 11, November 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Physician recognition program rewards service, professionalism

  Accreditation standards and liability concerns make certain that both medical staff and hospital...

• Peer support network helps providers cope with errors

  Physicians at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston formed a peer support team in July to...

• MSP salary survey: Higher education leads to higher pay

  New survey results show that continuing education is crucial to earning higher salaries. MSPs with...

• Proctoring innovation could be boon to rural docs

  The use of videoconferencing to proctor surgeons from a remote location is convenient and saves...

Issue 10, October 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Career advancement for the medical staff professional

  Raise your status, profile, and organizational value Career satisfaction is low among MSPs, many...

• Court rules hospitals have duty to disclose info on impaired physicians

  The jury award of $8.2 million in damages to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, WA, as a result of...

• Provide physician incentives without breaking the law

  Confusion about the Stark antireferral law and the anti-kickback statute can prevent hospitals from...

• Use proctoring to evaluate practitioner competency

  The JCAHO 2007 prepublication standards' renewed emphasis on evidence-based practitioner...

Issue 9, September 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Congress probes JCAHO for conflicts

  Increased scrutiny of the JCAHO from Congress could force the accrediting body to distance itself...

• Simulation advances lead to great expectations for patient safety

  Researchers foresee credentialing applications Advances in medical simulation technology have...

• Case study: Managing disruptive physician behavior

  The disruptive behavior of a single physician can be detrimental to the cohesion and collegiality...

Issue 8, August 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• JCAHO unveils 2007 credentialing and privileging standards

  The JCAHO released its 2007 pre-publication standards in late May, including a completely revamped...

• Identify and evaluate potential leaders using survey tools

  In response to industrywide challenges (e.g., evaluating emerging technologies, filling an...

• Improving physician satisfaction: Communication is key

  The pressures building on physicians due to the changing nature of healthcare (e.g., rising...

• How to use data to evaluate practicing physicians in the JCAHO's competencies

  Expectations that hospitals use standardized indicators to measure practitioners' competency and...

Issue 7, July 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Fellowship program identifies and trains new physician leaders

  When medical staff leaders resign, many hospitals are left scrambling to find qualified physicians...

• How to select physician-relevant performance indicators

  Gathering relevant physician performance data and convincing physicians to accept those data are...

• Medical staff applications: How to get answers without violating the ADA

  Legal and medical staff experts don't agree on whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA...

• Take steps to comply with the JCAHO's new disaster credentialing elements

  The JCAHO's new standards for credentialing volunteer healthcare professionals during a state of...

Issue 6, June 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• How to overcome physician resistance to pay for performance

  Providers come to terms with new reimbursement model The promised benefits of pay for...

• Texas case focuses attention on voluntary suspensions

  A U.S. District Court on March 27 found sufficient evidence to support the jury's findings in...

• AMA Foundation honors physician's 66 years of commitment to patient care

  Anne Louise Barlow, MD, MPH, first recipient of Jack B. McConnell Award At a time when the...

• Hospitals improve communication, efficiency with hands-free WiFi device

  Evidence is growing that hospitals can significantly improve patient safety, reduce their...

• The six most common trends for liability

  Over the past 50 years, more states have held hospitals accountable and responsible for their role...

Issue 5, May 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Cullen conviction may hasten hospitals' adoption of background checks

  More medical staff applicants nationwide may be subject to yet another hurdle when applying for...

• How to navigate legal risks littering the physician recruiting minefield

  The nationwide physician shortage-combined with the dangers associated with violating the Stark law...

• Med staff tweaks patient safety goals for small hospital

  National patient safety initiatives are great tools to improve safety in your hospital, but many...

• How many suits are too many for potential applicants?

  When considering a physician's malpractice claims history, MSPs may wonder whether there is a magic...

Issue 4, April 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Will the JCAHO's stance on bylaws leave bystanders bewildered?

  The accreditor takes another stab at revising MS.1.20 While most medical staff leaders and...

• Case study: Managing a system's 'unsolvable' ED on-call problem

  When Baptist Health South Florida requested help finding a solution to its emergency department...

• Teamwork leads to successful disclosure policy

  Disclosure of medical errors to patients is becoming the norm at hospitals nationwide and is being...

• Support, education, and compromise are the keys to criteria-based privileges

  Creating and implementing a core privileging system stands to greatly enhance the quality of your...

Issue 3, March 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Physician satisfaction: Improve care and your hospital’s bottom line

  Hospitals were slow to warm to the idea of patient satisfaction, but now they are just as likely to...

• Organization works with physicians to reduce patient complaints and risk

  When faced with a patient complaint, most physicians have a few common defenses to the criticism...

• Your questions answered: External peer review

  Medical staff and MSPs involved in the peer review process are occasionally stumped by the ins and...

Issue 2, February 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• JCAHO to MSPs: Make better use of data in credentialing and privileging

  It’s been on everyone’s to-do list, but now the JCAHO has turned formerly vague...

• Tenet educates board members about quality and credentialing

  Few members of hospitals’ trustee or executive boards understand credentialing or appreciate...

• Hospitals team with med staff to plan for avian flu pandemic

  Epidemiologists worldwide are carefully tracking flu cases to head off what could be a deadly avian...

• Indiana teaching hospital surveys MSPs about colonoscopy privileging criteria

  Although there is widespread agreement that everyone over the age of 50 should undergo a...

• Make sure your favorites folder includes these useful Web sites for MSPs

  Yes, you have plenty of your own favorite Web sites, but it never hurts to make sure you’re...

Issue 1, January 1, 2006 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Electronic records and orders: How 1,500 physicians changed their habits

  Evanston (IL) Northwestern Healthcare (ENH), which consists of three hospitals and 68 office...

• JCAHO ushers in evidence-based credentialing and privileging

  Evidence-based medicine has become the norm in healthcare. Now, in its proposed 2007 standards for...

• Delegating to CVOs without losing control

  When a member of her medical staff services office resigned recently, Candace Gamblain, manager of...