The medical staff services department doesn’t assess practitioners’ competence, but MSPs can ensure that the organized medical staff has the bylaws, policies, and procedures in place to conduct a consistent, fair, effective, and well-documented peer review process. In addition, MSPs can be instrumental in ensuring that the medical staff leadership and chairs are following established processes for peer review and that no conflicts of interest occur.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. is expected to experience a physician shortage of between 42,600 and 121,300 physicians by the end of the next decade. This shortage will be due in part to increasing demand for medical care from a large aging population as well as high numbers of physicians approaching retirement. Rural areas are already experiencing difficulty; they accounted for 60% of the more than 7,200 areas identified as lacking adequate healthcare and resources.

HCPro is currently seeking speakers to present at the 2020 Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, to be held April 20-21 in New Orleans. We seek speakers to present on all aspects of credentialing, privileging, and medical staff functions across any healthcare setting. Please click this link to apply: https://app.keysurvey.com/f/1418095/8b5b/

Calling all provider enrollment specialists and professionals—We want to hear from you! Join us for a focus group call on Thursday, August 29 at 1pm ET to discuss the 2020 National Provider Enrollment Forum. Whether you're a past attendee or new to the provider enrollment field, we want to know what you're most interested in learning about, what challenges you're currently facing, and how we can best meet your provider enrollment needs at the 2020 Forum. As a thank you for participating in the focus group, all callers will recieve a complimentary webinar. Email Associate Editor Karla Accorto at kaccorto@hcpro.com for more information or to RSVP.

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