Requirements that physicians and other healthcare professionals hold licenses in the state in which they provide services have been temporarily waived by the federal government. Earlier this week, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar II announced that if practitioners hold an equivalent license from another state and are not affirmatively barred from practice in that state or any state that is included in the emergency area, they can provide care in any state.

In an announcement yesterday, CMS said it would lift restrictions on providing most telehealth services to patients. For example, providers will be able to connect with Medicare patients in their homes or in other locations via face-to-face video technology. Previous rules limited providers and patients to specific “originating” and “distant” sites.

As a physician leader, earning the respect and trust of your colleagues and coworkers can be a challenging process. It is important to continually assess your performance, communication, and leadership to effectively serve your staff by avoiding common leadership pitfalls. All too often, medical staff leaders repeat common mistakes that jeopardize their effective leadership.

As COVID-19 spreads throughout the U.S., MSPs face unique challenges to support their practitioners and keep patients safe. In response, we’ve launched an Acute Care Coronavirus response page that provides resources and solutions for hospitals and health systems as they navigate COVID-19. You can also visit our forum dedicated to COVID-19 discussions to ask your questions and share best practices with your colleagues. Also, in an effort to fully understand the challenges your organization is currently facing as a result of COVID-19 and to ensure we’re delivering the right resources in the right format during this critical time, we ask that you complete this brief survey. Key survey findings will also be shared on our Acute Care Coronavirus Solutions Center.

Although sometimes used interchangeably, temporary, emergency, and disaster privileges are different. Let’s take a look at how and when to use each type of privilege.

Use this sample bylaws language to help you develop guidance for temporary, emergency, and disaster privileges.

Disaster privileges are implemented during disaster situations, such as the aftermath of a hurricane or a pandemic. However, accreditation standards vary regarding the use of disaster privileges. Use this grid to ensure you are complying with your accreditor(s)' standards.

Emergency privileges mean that any practitioner with clinical privileges is permitted to provide any type of patient care, treatment, and services that is intended to be lifesaving in nature or prevent serious harm (regardless of medical staff status or clinical privilege) as long as the patient care provided is within the scope of the individual’s license. However, accreditation standards vary regarding the use of emergency privileges.

Temporary privileges are often used to fulfill an important patient care need or when an applicant with a clean application is awaiting final approval by the govenring body. However, accreditation standards vary regarding the use of temporary privileges. Use this grid to ensure you are complying with your accreditor(s)' standards.

It is useful to recall that there is no prescribed format for creating medical staff bylaws and associated documents. Laws, regulations, and accreditation standards require medical staffs to address some issues in the bylaws, but how these issues are organized and addressed is up to each medical staff. In previous articles, we identified that a best practice is to organize medical staff responsibilities and functions into a series of manuals. Each manual deals in depth with a particular area in an organized fashion. The manuals are designed to clearly capture how the medical staff handles required or delegated functions. Here is how the series of manuals might look.

A South Carolina Court of Appeals (the “Court”) affirmed a trial court’s decision, finding that a hospital does not have a duty to ensure that a hospital physician maintains malpractice insurance coverage, regardless of the language in an admission contract and/or a special relationship forming a duty of care to its patients.