Despite moves for transparency around healthcare quality and finances, there remain areas where strict confidentiality is not optional. It is required, period. Three areas of impact for medical staff leaders include:

• Protected health information under HIPAA
• Peer review protections under the Health Care Quality and Improvement Act of 1986 and state peer review statutes
• Information including confidential professional references secured through the credentialing/privileging appointment and reappointment processes

For this reason, many medical staffs have adopted an overarching and general “Practitioner Attestation Confidentiality Statement,” such as the example provided here.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (the “Court”) affirmed a judgment by the U.S. District Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio in favor of a hospital that rescinded a physician’s employment contract after it received a poor peer review reference during his credentialing process.

With over 100,000 physician assistants (PA) in practice and predictions that the number will continue to grow, healthcare organizations are increasingly relying on these practitioners to fill patient-care needs. This means that like with physicians, it is up to the medical staff to monitor and ensure the quality of care being provided by PAs, and medical staff leaders and professionals must familiarize themselves with the profession, including ways to assess competence, state laws regarding licensure, and the certification process.

Check out the three webinars now available to Platinum Plus members of the Credentialing Resource Center.

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