In hospitals all across the country, the board of trustees is fiscally responsible for the financial wellbeing of the organization. It is also ultimately responsible for the credentialing and privileging of all practitioners in the organization and for monitoring the quality of care these practitioners provide. However, because the board lacks the expertise to credential and privilege and monitor the quality of care, these tasks are often delegated to the organized medical staff. Unfortunately, some medical staffs and boards do not have a good working relationship.

According to the Merritt Hawkins 2019 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives, primary care physicians are extremely in-demand. However, data gathered by Merritt Hawkins, a national healthcare search and conducting firm specializing in the recruitment of practitioners, indicates that there is increasing demand for medical specialists. For example, 78% of Merritt Hawkins’ search assignments tracked in the 2019 Review were for medical specialists (in comparison to primary care physicians) compared to 67% four years ago.

When granting temporary privileges, organizations should have policies that clearly outline their pre-established criteria. Although expediting the process is important, MSPs must ensure that each practitioner’s current clinical competence is verified to protect patient safety and avoid potential negligent credentialing claims, according to the authors of The Medical Staff's Guide to Overcoming Competence Assessment Challenges. This week’s free resource is a request form from the book to use when granting temporary privileges.

Understanding what the NPDB considers an investigation is very important because several of the updates clarify reporting requirements when a practitioner resigns while under investigation. How does the NPDB describe investigations?

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!

How interested would you be in a book about telemedicine (including information on credentialing and peer review of telemedicine providers)? Answer our new poll question and let us know. Did you miss one of our previous polls? Check out the results here.

The Credentialing Resource Center’s (CRC) annual MSP Salary Survey measures the compensation rates, essential duties, and other workplace trends shaping the careers of MSPs across the industry. Click here to take the 2019 MSP Salary Survey today to make sure your professional experiences are represented. 

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

CRC members can peruse all of the online articles from the July 2019 issues of CRCJ and MSB—as well as full-color PDFs—here:

• CRCJ
• MSB

To access the relevant full-issue PDF, select "DOWNLOAD FULL ISSUE" at the top of the page.