When to consider paying medical staff leaders

A recent poll on our Medical Staff & Credentialing Professionals LinkedIn page shows that MSPs have been affected financially at work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to respondents, their medical staff offices have experienced:

One respondent commented that her medical staff office has experienced both furloughs and salary reductions.

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If the burden of medical staff leadership was shared equally by all medical staff members, each member would spend a reasonable amount of time on their leadership duties. As a result, medical staff members would be less likely to consider these duties an additional burden worthy of monetary compensation. But the reality is that a handful of the members do the bulk of the work while the remaining wouldn’t touch leadership responsibilities with a 10-foot pole.

More than 4 million surgeries have been called off in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is according to a study conducted by CovidSurg Collaborative published in the British Journal of Surgery. They looked at surgeries canceled during the peak 12 weeks of the pandemic and received responses from 359 hospitals in 71 countries. Worldwide, more than 28.4 surgeries were canceled. Most hospitals started putting elective surgeries on hold in March to focus care and resources on COVID patients.

Credentialing exists to protect patients, healthcare organizations, and healthcare providers. Thus, one of the most important functions of the medical executive committee (MEC) is vigilant oversight of the credentialing and privileging processes. If MEC members do this poorly, they will most likely make their lives miserable, as well as the lives of many other physicians. This article will explain and explore this vitally important function.

When we think of how the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected healthcare workers on the front lines, we often think of how many have contracted the virus. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 77,000 healthcare personnel had contracted COVID-19 at the time of writing this article. However, COVID-19 has affected not only the physical well-being of healthcare workers across the country, but also their financial and employment status.