Poll question: Does your medical staff use pre-applications?

In the November issue of Briefings on Credentialing we examine the current use of pre-applications. An excerpt of the article is available after the poll; the entire article is available online in mid-October.

We want to know how your organization manages the application process. Take our poll and see how your medical staff’s use of pre-applications compares to others.

Article excerpt: “Pre-applications became popular at a time when many applications for initial appointment didn’t include eligibility criteria. Medical staffs used pre-applications as a way to screen candidates who didn’t meet the requested criteria before presenting them with a full application. It saved time and avoided unnecessary application denials. But the old way of using pre-applications is changing.

‘What has happened since then is that the field now clearly articulates eligibility criteria for membership and privileges directly on the application. The application is not completed and processed if all of the eligibility criteria are not met to the medical staff and hospital’s satisfaction,’ says Jonathan H. Burroughs, MD, MBA, FACPE, CMSL, a senior consultant with the Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., based in Marblehead, MA. ‘This contemporary approach obviates the need to create a separate step which may create additional work and certainly takes additional time,’ he says.

Nevertheless, some medical staffs continue to use pre-applications because they find them a useful screening tool.”

Keep reading about the use of pre-applications and other medical staff trends in Briefings on Credentialing.