This week, CRC Daily covers OPPE. An organization’s decision to employ physicians may require reexamination of existing information-sharing approaches to promote compliant, confidential, and effective use of performance data. Most medical staffs are rightfully extremely protective of any information about the peer review process. However, to meet the legitimate needs and concerns of all parties—the organized medical staff, the health system employer, and the employed physician—integration must exist to allow some level of formal information sharing between the health system employer and the organized medical staff peer review process while simultaneously guaranteeing that there are no unsanctioned breaches of confidentiality.

Practitioner vetting and performance assessment are among the top trouble spots for today’s ambulatory healthcare facilities, according to a new report from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), a major accreditor in the space. The AAAHC Quality Roadmap 2016 features data from nearly 1,400 on-site AAAHC accreditation surveys conducted from June 2015 to June 2016. Credentialing, privileging, and peer review each had among the highest incidence (10% or more) of partially compliant or non-compliant surveyor ratings in considered facilities.  

“Government employers can impose restrictions on statements made within the workplace or referring to the workplace, but they can’t act on statements made outside of the workplace unless they show a substantial likelihood of material impact on the employee’s performance or disruption within the workplace.”

Wayne Memorial Hospital began tailoring its peer review processes to accommodate OPPE and FPPE shortly after The Joint Commission announced the new requirement in 2007. Since then, the hospital has implemented comprehensive, practice area-specific professional practice quality report forms that can be used for focused and ongoing evaluations, as well as for performance improvement reporting.

OPPE reports should not catch practitioners by surprise. Create a timeline around which all practitioners will receive OPPE/FPPE education, particularly if the medical staff is adopting a new reporting process.

The South Dakota Supreme Court (the “Court”) recently reversed a circuit court’s decision ordering several healthcare providers to produce peer review materials. The Court disagreed with the lower court’s interpretation of the state’s peer review privilege and found that a court-created crime-fraud exception to the privilege was unnecessary.

Last month, Medical Staff Briefing discussed how physicians can use social media to enhance their practices by communicating with current patients, attracting new patients, and sharing health tips with a large number of people quickly. But there can also be negative side effects associated with social media. Physicians are now being reviewed by patients online, through websites like Yelp, Healthgrades, and Vital. And unlike other business owners, physicians can get into serious trouble even just by defending themselves when responding to reviews.

The CRC homepage is sporting a brand-new polling feature. Our first question asks site visitors for their take on which verbiage best represents those in the MSP profession: “medical staff professional” or “medical services professional.” 

Click here to access the poll directly. You must be signed in with your free or paid CRC account to participate.

Have a hot medical staff or credentialing topic you’d like your peers to weigh in on? Send question and topic proposals to CRC Editor Delaney Rebernik at drebernik@hcpro.com, and you could see your idea showcased in a future poll.   

Your window into the professional experiences of MSPs across the compensation spectrum, career stages, and the care continuum 

The modern MSP’s influence spans more functions, facilities, and settings than ever before. Gain unparalleled insight into the evolving profession with the 2016 MSP Salary Survey Special Report. Featuring data from nearly 1,000 respondents, this special report is jam-packed with professional statistics, expert input, and prescriptive guidance for leveraging survey findings in the field. 

The 2016 MSP Salary Survey Special Report is a complimentary Credentialing Resource Center membership benefit. CRC members can click here to download the report. Not a CRC member? Click here to purchase the report. 

CRC's Achievement Awards honor MSPs and medical staff leaders who make a difference in their organization and serve as an inspiration to the broader professional community.

The Credentialing Resource Center (CRC) Symposium has long been among the most anticipated industry events of the year. But our team of first-class subject matter experts never stops dreaming up new ways to make the symposium even more memorable and applicable to MSPs’ and medical staff leaders’ important work. The 2017 CRC Symposium’s brand-new, can’t-miss features include:

• More medical staff leadership expertise: The addition of Mark Smith, MD, MBA, FACS, senior consultant with HG Healthcare Consultants, LLC, and chief medical officer of MorCare, LLC, to the faculty doubles the number of medical staff leaders on the podium.
• New voices: Two inaugural events—the Achievement Awards ceremonies and a case study presentation—honor winners of the 2017 CRC contests and provide unique insight into what’s working for in-the-trenches MSPs and medical staff leaders. Plus, there’s still time to submit nominations for the Achievement Awards—winners attend the Symposium for free.
• More learning: We’ve expanded sessions by fifteen minutes to allow for deeper dives into crucial concepts and expanded audience participation.
• Brand-new and revamped sessions that reflect today’s most urgent medical staff and credentialing topics, including:
  • Bridging the Gap and Addressing the Attribution Problem: Measuring Team Performance vs. Individual Performance.
  • Addressing Issues Related to Employed Physicians.
  • Credentialing Advancements in a New Delivery Era: Real Results in Alignment Between Credentialing, Provider Enrollment, and Delegation.
  • Credentialing at the Extremes of the Age Spectrum: Challenges Posed by Young and Old Practitioners.
  • Rapid Fire—We’ve brought back our popular quick-hit format, but added brand-new topics to the mix. In addition to the longstanding industry pain points, our expert faculty will provide targeted tips on emerging hot spots, including adapting medical staff processes for telemedicine, privileging dietitians, and neuromonitoring for physicians/technicians. Help shape the conversation by submitting your own Rapid Fire questions electronically (you must register for the event first).

Click here to learn more about the industry event of the season.