The Joint Commission will no longer use the term “licensed independent practitioner” in its hospital and critical access hospital standards. Starting February 19, 2023, the term “licensed practitioner” will be used.

We know you enjoy your free content from Credentialing Resource Center Digest. Now it's time to learn how a paid subscription to Credentialing Resource Center can help you in your daily tasks. Credentialing Resource Center is an easy-to-access portal that provides MSPs, quality professionals, and medical staff leaders with a collection of continuously updated tools, best practice strategies, and compliance tips developed by industry experts. Join our live, 30-minute demo on Tuesday, December 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET to learn how Credentialing Resource Center can help you and your team. To sign up, click here.

Who can be a credentials committee member? CMS and accrediting bodies only refer to the general function of a credentials committee. They do not specify the committee structure or provide requirements for membership on the committee. Your organization’s medical staff bylaws and/or credentialing policies and procedures set the actual criteria for credentials committee membership. Although it’s good to enumerate some basic requirements for membership, it’s also worthwhile to note that more effective credentials committee members are often those who exceed the minimum qualifications.

We are currently seeking industry experts to speak at our upcoming conference, the 2023 National Provider Enrollment Forum! The Forum will take place August 7-8, 2023, at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center. This two-day, can’t-miss event will deliver fresh and valuable content for nearly every title and function in the provider enrollment industry. To apply, click here and fill out the application by Friday, January 13, 2023. Click here for more details. Please contact Son Hoang at shoang@hcpro.com with any questions.

Credentialing professionals work under the assumption that the facilities they query are open for business and have practitioners’ records. However, it’s common for MSPs to find that a verification trail has gone cold. Perhaps the medical staff applicant is older and their medical school closed in the years since graduation. Or perhaps the applicant spent several decades working at a facility that lost its paper credentialing files in a devastating fire. How does the MSP obtain primary source verifications in such situations?

This is the first article by two authors who are coming full circle back to HCPro. We both have previously worked with HCPro when it was partners with The Greeley company. Now that we’re back, we’re launching a monthly column. For this first entry, we have a conversation about how recent events will affect medical staffs.