Privileges are permissions that have been granted to a physician or other licensed independent practitioner to provide specific patient care services, which may include the ability to admit, treat, manage, and perform procedures. The term “privileging” refers to the pro­cess the hospital and medical staff use to delineate, review, and approve these services.

As of 2022, there were 1,044,734 physicians in the United States, according to a census report released by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). Based on an estimated U.S. population of 333 million people, that means there are approximately 313 licensed physicians per 100,000 people.

As a medical staff leader, it is important to understand from the start that the days of a medical staff secretary in a medical staff office are history. It is true that in years past, the work was primarily clerical and secretarial. However, as healthcare has evolved and grown in complexity, so too has the work of the organized medical staff. A true medical staff services department (MSSD) is now needed, staffed by subject matter experts appropriately identified as medical services professionals (MSP).

To help guide the team’s ongoing efforts to maintain our standing as the premier resource for medical staff professionals and medical staff leaders, we hope you can spare a little time to complete our 2023 Credentialing Resource Center Member Survey.  Your feedback will help us deliver a solution that best meets the needs of valued members like you.

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico (the “Court”) held that a correctional facility couldn’t claim the privilege under the Patient Safety Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA) after admitting they weren’t aware of the privilege’s existence until responding to a request to produce documents related to a prisoner who died while incarcerated.