Happy Medical Staff Services Awareness Week! We here at HCPro encourage MSPs to find some creative ways to pat their peers (and themselves!) on the back for a job well done. If you need ideas on how to celebrate, see how MSPs have done so in years past.

The medical staff services team at Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, Maryland, took a few minutes to pose for a selfie during MSP Awareness Week. The team also is celebrating with a special event every day, including: a lunch outing, breakfast delivered to the department, an ice cream social, a surprise "special" delivery, and a goodie bag.

Since the inception of a federal transparency program called Open Payments, fewer physicians have accepted payments from drug and medical device companies and group purchasing organizations, finds a study published today in JAMA. 

Get ready for a new, cleaner look to the Credentialing Resource Center homepage! When you log onto Credentialing Resource Center later this week you will see an easier-to-navigate homepage. But don’t worry—you did not lose access to any of the features of your Credentialing Resource Center membership. All of the features can still be found by navigating the main toolbar. The homepage now focuses on the most popular features of Credentialing Resource Center: news, privileging resources, sample forms, and our verification directory.

As the end of 2020 approaches, one thing is quite clear: It’s been a tough year. In addition to natural disasters, nationwide protests, and a contentious election season, the United States has had to grapple with a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. Hundreds of thousands have died in the U.S. alone from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Hospitals have been pushed to their limits and then some, and although a vaccine appears to be on the horizon, we are about to enter the cold and flu season, which carries its own concerns.

One of the first steps in keeping disruptive behavior out of your organization is to only appoint excellent physicians. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Therefore, if you appoint to the medical staff a physician who has a history of disruptive behavior in previous clinical settings, he or she will likely display the same behavior in your organization as well. Any prior disruptive behavior should be a red flag to stop the physician at the door.

This sample questionnaire was created to guide credentials committee members as they interview new medical staff applicants.

A member of the credentials committee should interview applicants to determine if the written application fits the applicant. The credentials committee member should ask the applicant to attest to his or her past performance through general and specific questions that may or may not be on the application.