Cassie L. Kana, CPMSM, CPCS, is the medical staff operations coordinator at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. In this role, which she assumed in 2015, Kana is responsible for increasing efficiency in the credentialing process, overseeing governance documents, facilitating communication between administration and the medical staff, and managing an array of projects.

John McDonald, MD, MSHM, CMQ, has served as the chief medical officer at Medical City North Hills (MCNH) in North Richland Hills, Texas, since April 2014. A board-certified pathologist, Dr. McDonald has also been medical director of the MCNH laboratory since 1991. Throughout his career, Dr. McDonald has held a variety of leadership roles in medical staff affairs, including chief of staff and chairman of the board of trustees. Dr.

A team from University Health Systems is this year's CRC Excellence in Medical Staff Collaboration award winner. In the words of nominator, Barbara Warstler, MBA, CPMSM, FASPR, "We have worked together for approximately 7 years. During this time, we have accomplished amazing things! Together, we lead a team of approximately 50 people. We have transitioned our team from being a paper-based group of individual contributors to a cohesive, high-performing team.

Given the high stakes and complexity of provider enrollment, aligning the function with traditional medical staff services work requires a clear strategy, strong approaches, and adept staff. Otherwise, the process may unravel, jeopardizing revenue, care access, and practitioner satisfaction.

In a recent statement, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) voiced its concerns regarding the Trump administration's visa policies and plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the implications it may have for the 2018 Main Residency Match. The Match, which takes place in March, is when medical students find out which residency training program they have been accepted to.

This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of managed care. Whether you are new to managed care credentialing or an expert, this quiz will help you brush up on your facts. 

There are many factors that contribute to successful delegated credentialing for both the health and delegated entity to consider. Below are tips and recommendations for the health plan:

Hospitals and medical clinics are unique given the amount of personal information stored in their databanks. Despite the many technological safeguards put into place to protect patient information from getting into the wrong hands, a mistake as trivial as password sharing could still be potentially devastating. 

Telemedicine is becoming more prevalent than in years past as hospital administrators look to technology and collaborative opportunities to make services accessible to patients. As the leader of a central verification office within a large health system, I am often brought into discussions about a new telemedicine agreement with one of our many facilities. My team works closely with the facility and the telemedicine company to keep communication lines open and facilitate the credentialing process, to the extent possible, for those providers.

Download a sample telemedicine policy to ensure consistency of credentialing and privileging among your remote providers.