To have confidence in peer review program data, an oversight body needs a reasonable understanding of how the data were produced. It also needs to know how the data are evaluated and what is done with the results. Explain to the board the four main systems involved in producing and evaluating physician performance data:

Moral distress, or the “disequilibrium resulting from the recognition of and inability to react ethically to a situation,” has long been associated with some bedside nurses’ experiences during fraught care situations. But the phenomenon is not unique to the nursing frontlines, according to a new qualitative study in the Journal of Nursing Administration that measures moral distress levels among chief nursing officers (CNO).

“Managing a hospital is like herding cats who collaborate with cats around the world, are actually paid by outside cats, use products developed by cats, deal with policies designed by cats and are taking care of other cats who can also hire cats to sue your hospital.”

—Forbes contributor Bruce Y. Lee meditates on why physician-run hospitals often outperform their layperson-led counterparts.   

The most common rule indicators are going to be your core measures where the physician is responsible for something. Rule indicators are an event, and we are looking at how well they were complied with.

Don’t be surprised if practitioners push back or give defensive responses about potential performance issues identified during professional practice evaluation. This free resource provides a few typical examples of complaints that practitioners may offer during the course of an evaluation, along with some tips on how to turn the critiques into productive feedback.

Medical staff services and credentialing professionals do business with customers who want to be heard and who require expeditious action and follow-through. Professionals in our field have much to consider in their day-to-day work—regulatory compliance, adherence to medical staff bylaws, credentialing, peer review, database management, committee support, and more. Excellent customer service goes with the territory, but do we really think of it as a key initiative?

CRC members can now peruse all of the online articles from the February 2017 issues of CRCJ and MSB, as well as full-color PDFs.

Wellness among physicians has become a popular topic of discussion in recent years, with organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the National Academy of Medicine, and the ACGME undertaking efforts to promote clinician well-being. Multiple studies have reported that physicians experience higher rates of burnout, depression, and suicide than the general population.

Attending the 2017 CRC Symposium? Don’t forget to book your room at the Hyatt Regency Austin by March 14 to get a special hotel rate of $239. Rooms are filling up so book now to guarantee you can stay in the hotel. Call 512-477-1234 to make your room booking and mention you are attending the HCPro CRC Symposium.