Most central verification offices (CVO) have a team within their operational structure that takes care of technical applications and software functionality. With most CVOs moving toward greater automation, technical expertise is required. This team calls for a special skill set to ensure data integrity. A technical team often creates data standardization guidelines to be used by all CVO staff to ensure the accuracy and reliability of provider data.

To boost patient safety and physician efficiency, Seattle Children's Hospital adopted overlapping emergency room shifts for physicians and achieved a dramatic reduction in patient handoffs, recent research shows.

Selecting the appropriate template for meeting agendas and minutes can greatly assist in producing quality documentation. A table format is often helpful to the meeting facilitator and appreciated by medical staff members and surveyors alike. This free resource contains excerpts from a sample meeting agenda and sample meeting minutes.

Most medical staff bylaws contain a section labeled “definitions.” The value of a definitions section in the bylaws is to ensure clarity in the use of terminology. For example, if a hospital is part of a larger health system, does the term “board” in the bylaws refer to the hospital board or the health system governing body? Some terms are used differently by different healthcare organizations, and the definitions section of the bylaws can be used to make sure that everyone knows how the term is intended to be defined in that document.

By 2025, it is predicted that there will be a shortage of between 124,000 and 160,000 full-time physicians, according to data presented at the National Cancer Policy Forum. Given the inevitable shortage, we are now seeing an increase in the number of allied health professionals (AHP) as the need to fill the gaps in the U.S. healthcare system increases.

Considering how hard we work on a daily basis—between our jobs and taking care of our families and friends—it is always important to remember to take care of ourselves. However, we can get caught up in the day-to-day and forget to do this. After a long time of neglecting self-care, we learn many coping mechanisms, and this can make it harder to recognize our stress levels and when we need to take time for ourselves.

The 2019 CRC Symposium delivers 2.5 days of engaging education and training to MSPs, medical staff leaders, and quality directors in credentialing environments spanning the care continuum. Top industry experts impart fresh insight and actionable strategies for developing and sustaining effective credentialing, privileging, competence assessment, and medical staff governance processes amid constant changes to healthcare service delivery and reimbursement.

Have you seen this year's agenda? New sessions include:

• Assessing the Competency of Low- and No-Volume Practitioners
• Provider Enrollment Solutions: Improving Payer Approvals
• Fair Hearings, part 1 and part 2
• Privileging and Peer Review in the Ambulatory Care Setting
• Symptoms of Incomplete Credentialing Integration: How Physician Leaders and Medical Services Professionals Can Positively Influence the Outcome

The 2019 CRC Symposium will be held February 26-28 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Register now by clicking here or calling Angie at 800-650-6787 ext. 8124.

Join us for a peer review virtual workshop and get your current peer review challenges solved! During this 2.5-hour workshop, peer review experts Robert Marder, MD, and Marla Smith, MHSA, will provide attendees with solutions to peer review issues specific to their organization. Attendees will have the opportunity to anonymously share their organization’s peer review challenges by completing a brief questionnaire in advance of the program; Marder and Smith will use this questionnaire to help attendees develop solutions. Attendees will walk away not only with solutions to their own struggles, but also with insight into how other organizations have solved their pressing peer review issues. Marder and Smith will additionally present case studies on organizations who have successfully worked through bias, culture, or logistic issues regarding peer review. To see the agenda, or to register, clickhere.

How does your organization credential telmedicine providers? Does it undertake the full credentialing process as it would with an initial applicant? Does it accept the distant site's decision? Answer our latest poll question to let us know. You must be signed in with your free or paid CRC account to participate.

The Credentialing Resource Center (CRC) team is extending the deadline to enter the 2019 CRC Symposium Case Study Competition and the 2019 CRC Achievement Awards, two application-based contests showcasing excellence in the medical staff services and leadership fields. For complete contest details and to enter the contests through our simple online process, visit https://credentialingresourcecenter.com/symposium/contests