Negligent credentialing, Lean leveraging, and ER call quandaries

Most medical staffs today are departmentalized in nature. Where departmentalization exists, a medical staff must take care to involve each department properly in the practitioner vetting process to avoid negligent credentialing landmines. For example, if a medical staff is departmentalized, the department chair (or designee) plays an important role in credentialing.

What are the metrics that healthcare leaders need to watch to ensure clinical, financial, and strategic success in an era of endless healthcare transformation? For Oregon Medical Group, a physician-owned multispecialty clinic of 140 providers in Eugene, key metrics fall into five strategic pillars:

If certain privileging-related requirements, such as possession of board certification, current licensure, and professional liability coverage, apply to all or the vast majority of medical staff members, consider defining them in the medical staff bylaws as “general qualifications for membership” rather than filing them under specific categories, which opens the door to inconsistencies and needless distinctions.

If your organization is struggling to get physicians to take ED call, you are not alone.

“In the last 3 years, Greeley has worked with 700-plus hospitals and healthcare systems all around the country, all sizes and complexities. The most challenging, difficult project we ever work on is ED call,” says Rick Sheff, MD, chief medical officer for The Greeley Company in Danvers, Massachusetts. “It really speaks to how deep and thorny the challenges are.”

For healthcare organizations, making sense of all the credentialing standards of major accrediting bodies—including CMS, DNV GL, the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP), The Joint Commission, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance—is easier said than done. Careful consideration must be taken to comply with multiple regulatory and accreditation standards.

"Privileging APPs: Issues and Solutions" is now available to Platinum Plus members of the Credentialing Resource Center (CRC)! Click here to access this new release directly through the CRC website. Also be sure to check out the five other webinars released this year for Platinum Plus members.

Transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) is a minimally invasive technique for treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH, an enlargement of the prostate causing urinary tract obstruction, is the most common prostate problem for men older than 50, affecting an estimated 50% by age 60 and 90% by age 85.

The committee structure within a department performs important functions that can be used to address both patient care and general business issues in an organized fashion. Committees should reflect a department’s well-organized approach to address issues.

The 2018 CRC Symposium Case Study Competition and the 2018 CRC Achievement Awards are two application-based contests that showcase excellence in the medical staff services and leadership fields. Winners, who will be selected by a panel of esteemed industry experts, will receive free admission to and recognition at the 2018 CRC Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here's why previous contest winners and current judges say you should apply.

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