This week, CRC Daily covers credentialing. We kick things off with timely guidance on a longstanding pain point: vetting locum tenens practitioners.

By and large, locum tenens applicants should be credentialed like all other applicants in terms of information verification and clinical competency. Consequently, when it comes to temporary privileges, the standard principles apply.

A woman posing as a doctor in training successfully infiltrated the medical staff ranks at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston last year, according to an article published Monday in The Boston Globe. The incident illustrates the importance of a rigorous vetting process, vigilant staff, and a high-caliber security system.

When credentialing and privileging employed physicians, it is a best practice to have a single, unified process. This will ensure that every candidate has been fully vetted through the same prescribed process. This free resource from The Medical Staff's Guide to Employed Physicians comes courtesy of the Greater Hudson Valley Health System in Middletown, New York, which has codified its process in the form of a checklist.

MSPs sometimes feel compelled to send an application to department chairs or to the credentials committee even though the application is incomplete. Frequently, the pressure comes from one of the following sources:

Onboarding can be an arduous process for physician leaders and MSPs, even when things go smoothly. More and more, organizations are hearing about providers’ experience of onboarding—including their frustration when application turnaround times are long, processes are repetitive, and providers have no idea where their application is in the process.

Do provider onboarding experiences matter? Yes, says Alicia Mendez, CPMSM, CPCS, technical sales manager at IntelliCVO, based in Nashua, New Hampshire.

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

One lucky winner will be chosen to receive FREE registration for this year’s symposium, April 6–7 in Austin Texas.

Sweepstakes end Friday, February 17, at 11:55 p.m. PST. Enter daily to increase your chances. Winner will be announced Monday, February 20.

ENTER NOW!