The concept behind physician councils is that physicians should have multiple avenues for communicating with the hospital’s decision makers and vice versa. Physician councils are meetings established to support constructive dialogue between physicians and the hospital about what matters most to the people in the room.

To combat violence against healthcare workers, lawmakers in several states have introduced or passed legislation aimed to punish those who knowingly injure, assault, or threaten hospital staff while they are performing their official duties.   

Find out what’s happening in the world of federal healthcare regulations by reviewing some recent headlines from across the country.

• Physician's license suspended over expired medication
• New Jersey joins the IMLC
• Florida hospital thwarts ransomware attack
• Inmates sue over ivermectin treatments
• Physician's license suspended over sexual misconduct allegations

Like many medical staff leaders, Susan Diaz, CPCS, CPMSM, has seen her share of whirlwind changes since early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Diaz, who serves as medical staff director at NewYork Presbyterian (NYP) in New York City, says the move to remote work for her medical staff office (MSO) team was near immediate as the virus began to spread. A team of nearly 30 credentialing analysts (coordinators) had to shift to virtual work—and fast.