The role of an MSP can be very stressful, time-consuming, and challenging. It is important for managers and directors to incorporate team-building activities into their departments to prevent burnout.

Telehealth has expanded significantly since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last spring. The expansion of telehealth has included growth in specialties that previously experienced modest adoption of telemedicine, such as oncology. Using telehealth poses risks for healthcare providers, including misdiagnosis.

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You’ve been chipping away at it for years, and now you finally feel like you have ironed out all of the kinks in your FPPE process. It is a well-oiled machine, and even when you get questions from practitioners, you can usually find the answers. Then one day, you notice that an orthopedic surgeon who applied for privileges at your facility 12 months ago is still undergoing his initial FPPE. Upon further review, you notice that he has only completed two of the six cases required for FPPE for orthopedic surgeons. Now you are left wondering how you can help this physician complete his FPPE so he can have full privileges at your facility and so you don’t have a lingering, unfinished task on your checklist.

A number of factors are driving physicians to focus less on practicing in the hospital and more on their outpatient practices. This trend leaves hospitals wondering how to best manage low- and no-volume providers, that is, those who see no or very few inpatients. Many medical staffs find it difficult to meet The Joint Commission’s focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE) and ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) requirements. With the increasing emphasis on FPPE, OPPE, and demonstration of current competency, it is no longer acceptable to continue to grant privileges to providers whose only presence in the hospital is their credentials file.

This sample policy and procedure addresses the credentialing and privileging of low-volume and no-volume practitioners.

Four years ago, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact officially launched its expedited licensure process. However, the initial discussion about developing a streamlined licensing process stems back even further. The compact, which was initially developed by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), began to explore the idea of using an interstate compact for physician licensing in April 2013.