Pro Publica reported at least 20 rural hospitals in the United States have been found in violation of EMTALA in the past five years based upon federal investigation data. In several instances, women in labor faced serious complications after being denied care or were misdiagnosed at facilities that lacked obstetrics specialists (The Advisory Board Co., 2017).

A final rule issued by CMS last month could put physicians in jeopardy of not getting paid for services provided to patients covered under the Affordable Care Act.

"We found that in every single outcome measure where there was a significant difference between patients who had overlapping surgery and those who didn't, it was in favor of the overlapping surgery group."

Despite moves for transparency around healthcare quality and finances, there remain areas where strict confidentiality is not optional. It is required, period. For this reason, many medical staffs have adopted an overarching and general “Practitioner Attestation Confidentiality Statement,” such as the example provided here.

Most healthcare facilities and health plans require medical malpractice insurance coverage. There are two types of medical professional liability insurance policies available.

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Let us know how your organization refers to the process of enrolling providers with government and commercial health plans.

Published 5/10/17

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affirmed a judgment by the U.S. District Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio in favor of a hospital that rescinded a physician’s employment contract after it received a poor peer review reference during his credentialing process.

Published 5/08/17

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

Follow the links below to access these new releases directly through the CRC website:

• Benchmarking Your Peer Review Program: Best Practices and Removing Barriers to Success
• Medical Staff Applications: Pink Flags Versus Red Flags
• Verify & Comply: Credentialing Standards Compared and Contrasted

Platinum Plus members receive premier access to top training and educational resources, including an evolving collection of expert-led webinars and an e-library of HCPro’s most popular credentialing and medical staff titles. To learn more about these exclusive benefits, watch this free, five-minute demo.

Upgrade or initiate your membership today. You can also order today’s featured webinars, and others, through HCMarketplace.

Published 5/08/17

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.