How often have you heard it said that a medical staff leader was selected because he or she was not at a particular meeting? If the physician had been present at that meeting, he or she would have likely declined the invitation to become involved with leadership for a number of reasons: lack of expertise, training, skills, or time.

The Mount Carmel Health System fired 23 employees, and its CEO will resign later this month after it was discovered that a physician at the health system killed 25 patients by overprescribing opioids.The terminated employees include five managers of physician, nursing, and/or pharmacy oversight. Eleven other employees have to complete additional training and education.

Keeping track of the steps of the peer review process can be just as daunting for MSPs as the actual process is for physicians under review. There are many steps to remember, and it is of the utmost importance that each step is followed to prevent legal action by physicians challenging the process.

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 his medical school closed in the years since graduation. Or perhaps the applicant spent several decades working at a facility that experienced a devastating fire and her paper credentialing file was lost. How does the MSP obtain primary source verifications in such situations?

HCPro is currently seeking speakers to present at the 2020 Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, to be held April 20-21 in New Orleans. Is that special person you or a colleague? We seek speakers to present on all aspects of credentialing, privileging, and medical staff functions across any healthcare setting. HCPro will waive admission fees to the 2020 Credentialing Resource Center Symposium for all selected speakers and co-speakers. Click here to apply!

A New Hampshire District Court (the “Court”) granted summary judgment to three corporate defendants, finding that a physician cannot sue a hospital for defamation or breach of contract if a hospital suspends the physician’s privileges and files the required report with the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). Additionally, a physician cannot bring a breach of contract claim against A) an organization with which it has no contractual relationship or B) an organization that the physician has contractually agreed to release from all liability.

MSPs are seeing upward movement on the salary front, with greater percentages of MSPs earning $60,000 or more. This is according to HCPro’s 2018 MSP Salary Survey Report, which featured more than 500 responses.

All healthcare organizations must comply with multiple regulatory and accreditation standards, but making sense of all those requirements is easier said than done. During this 90-minute webinar, expert speaker Carol S. Cairns, CPMSM, CPCS, will break down the credentialing standards of the five accrediting bodies (CMS, The Joint Commission [TJC], the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program [HFAP], DNV GL, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance [NCQA]), identify their similarities and differences, and explain how the four-step credentialing approach applies to each agency.