Navigating appointment processes, with their patchwork of expiration dates and verification expectations, can be difficult for ambulatory facilities, which often lack the dedicated credentialing presence and big-ticket resources of their acute care counterparts. To stay ahead of critical practitioner vetting deadlines, such as privilege expiration dates, consider creating a checklist that accounts for major federal regulations, state laws, and organization-specific circumstances.

Published 02/05/18

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the medical credentialing process is incredibly long and bureaucratic, with massive amounts of repetitive paperwork going to several different agencies with different methodologies, each laboring under the impression that their means of operation is best. The job carries with it a heavy burden of responsibility—thoroughness and credibility are vital when the margin of error is so small. But being overly cautious is not the same as taking the appropriate precautions. Complexity and exhaustivity are not always positives.

Published 02/07/18

One of the biggest challenges facing hospital medical staffs today is obtaining sufficient information to accurately document practitioner competency. It is easy to confirm that a practitioner held a medical staff appointment at a healthcare facility and whether he or she was subject to any disciplinary action, but it can be much harder to obtain relevant practitioner-specific, aggregated data and objective opinions from other facilities. 

Published 02/07/18

Facilities seeking competency data may need to amend their policies or medical staff bylaws. These samples can be customized for most facilities, but consult with counsel first.

“We want to be change leaders, not change followers.”

Barbara Warstler, MBA, CPMSM, FASPR, makes the case for moving to a paperless medical staff services department.

“There’s nothing worse than 20 different processes and you have to figure out what’s going on with hospital A, B, and C.”

Heather Johnson, CPCS, outlines the benefits of a systemwide credentials verification organization.

“Medical leaders can’t do all of the OPPE/FPPE, but they can influence and participate in the process.”

Mark Smith, MD, MBA, FACS, discusses the physician leader’s role in OPPE/FPPE.

Congratulations to Julie Barclay; Olivia Chávez, CPCS; and Lizzette Dominguez for winning our CRC Symposium mobile app contest. These attendees earned free HCPro books for posting the best photos and status updates to the conference app.

Our veteran faculty, Todd Sagin, MD, JD; Sally Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS; Carol Cairns, CPMSM, CPCS; and Mark Smith, MD, MBA, FACS; closed out the 2018 CRC Symposium with a series of vignettes depicting the events leading up to the credentialing industry’s latest noteworthy court case, Miller v. Huron.

The Credentialing Resource Center Symposium would like to thank the exhibitors and sponsors that made this year's symposium possible:

• ABMS Solutions
• American Board of Physician Specialties
• ConnectMe Solutions
• CredentialMyDoc
• Elsevier
• Expo Enterprises
• PT Research Inc.
• Streamline Verify
• symplr
• The Greeley Company
• Verity