Physicians who are doctors of medicine (MD) and doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO) generate similar results on key indicators of quality and cost of care, a new research article says.

For the most part, the physician health committee is composed of senior medical staff members who are respected by their colleagues for their fairness and wisdom and who have a passion for patient safety and physician advocacy.

This is the latest in a continuing series of articles designed for medical staff leaders and their associates. This month, Greeley and Williams discuss using new technology to define medical staff functions.

A CVO’s primary responsibility is to process provider applications for facility privileges (both initial appointments and reappointments) and occasionally for delegated health plans. This article covers several important factors that may come into play. No two applications are alike, and the CVO team often finds itself in new or unprecedented situations. This keeps the job interesting but can sometimes be a challenge. Having a few general guidelines to follow may help ease the burden.

In terms of workforce efficiency, the fewer tasks that are handed off, the better. It may sometimes seem smart to divvy up tasks among teams to increase efficiency. However, that practice can backfire, creating more work, more confusion, and longer turnaround times. This figure shows how to make credentialing more efficient by grouping the tasks together.