Author Archive for Karen M. Cheung

CMS eases credentialing and privileging by proxy for telemedicine providers

To the relief of many medical services professionals and credentialing coordinators, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid yesterday issued a telemedicine final rule that allows for credentialing and privileging by proxy, effective in 60 days after it publishes in the Federal Registry.

Under the revised Conditions of Participation (CoP) for hospitals and critical access hospitals, the originating site (the hospital where the patient is) can make credentialing and privileging decisions about telemedicine providers (practitioners who provide clinical services by electronic communication) using information from the distant site (the remote site where the telemedicine practitioner is located).

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Free forms: CRC contest roundup

Thanks to all the readers who submitted their tools and tips for contest for free admission to the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, May 12–13 in Las Vegas! The contest is now closed.

We’ve selected the best and posted them online for you to borrow these great resources and customize for your own organization.

Congratulations to the winners who will be joining us in Las Vegas on May 12–13:

• Contest February winner: Physician improvement policy (Karen Vineyard, CPMSM, Lapeer Regional Medical Center)
• Contest March winner: MEC orientation (Linda Van Winkle, CPMSM, CPCS, Christus St. Patrick Hospital)
• Contest April winner: New practitioner task checklist (Kathy J. Szary, Grinnell Regional Medical Center)

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Contest winner: New practitioner task checklist

Congratulations to Kathy J. Szary, medical staff services coordinator and executive assistant at Grinnell (IA) Regional Medical Center! Kathy is the final winner for the 2011 Credentialing Resource Center Symposium Contest!

Kathy submitted this novel new practitioner task checklist. She writes,

We developed this form recently to help us in preparing for the arrival of new practitioners. We established a “new practitioner task force,” which I keep as a distribution list.

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Contest entry: OPPE data snapshot

Here’s another contest entry into the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest.

Kelly Trotter, MS, RN, CNOR, coordinator of quality management at SouthCrest Hospital in Tulsa, OK, sent in sample tools for ongoing professional practice evaluation. Kelly says the documents make communication to the physicians easier. These tables are snapshots of their quality indicators. In addition, the department can see data related to providers as compared to the rest.

You can download the following here:

• OPPE data snapshot for individual physician
• OPPE data snapshot for department

Thanks Kelly for sharing!

The Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest closes today, but there is still time that you can register for the Symposium.

Contest entry: Appointment and reappointment file review checklists

We’re nearing the close of the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest.

Thanks to Kathryn O’Briant, CPCS, CPMSM, of the medical staff services at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan, Texas who sent in her checklists for reviewing the files of physicians when they are up for initial appointment and reappointment.

Kathryn writes:

“When I started in medical staff Services, I had absolutely no background in credentialing.  I learned the rules, and because everyone is always nervous about missing a key component, our team developed a check-off sheet that has been modified over the years to make sure all new elements are received and verified.

When we sit down to review our files with our respective department chairs, we were using our check-off sheets as tools to guide them through the file.  The chairs were very surprised that we had consolidated all of the information into one sheet and went as far as documenting red flags that they needed to review and sign off on.  This tool has been expanded for initial appointment and reappointments and has proven to be an invaluable tool.”

You can download the following tools here:

• Initial appointment file review checklist
• Reappointment file review checklist

Thanks Kathryn for you submission.

You can find all the contest rules here.

Contest entry: OPPE policy for consulting physicians

We’re entering the final week of our Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest.

Here’s one that came in from Adriane Rodriguez, CPCS, director of medical staff services at Promise Hospital of ELA/suburban campus’s medical staff office in Paramount, CA. Andriane writes:

“We utilize several OPPE tools which represent various scope of service, i.e., primary physician, surgery (podiatrist, general surgeon, etc.), consultant, and AHP. . .The OPPE tool [for consultants] ensures we gather performance data on consultations, invasive procedures, peer review, as well as generic indicators such as documentation, etc.

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Contest entry: Reappointment sign-off form

Thanks to Gail Barko, medical staff coordinator at Zeeland (MI) Community Hospital for sending this entry to the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest.

Gail writes:

“This is a sign off form we use for reappointments. It shows the areas of competence that [the Joint Commission] is looking for and indicates that the reviewer has reviewed that specific information. Also, rather than obtaining many signatures, we’ve included the dates of the various committees that have approved the reappointment. We were just survey[ed] in January by [the Joint Commission], and they liked this form.”

Glad to hear!

You can download the reappointment sign-off form here.

You can also enter yourself in the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest before April 15. Find the contest rules here.

Contest entry: Student clinical rotation policy

Keep those contest entries coming! Just one more week left until the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest closes and we announce the final winner.

Thanks to Mary E. Eddy, CPMSM, credentialing coordinator at St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island, an affilate of CharterCARE Health Partners, for sending in this medical staff policy on student clinical rotations.The policy states:

“St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island will accept students for clinical rotations only if candidates submit appropriate documentation, as may be applicable, to the medical services department.  Formal approval must be received from the sponsoring educational institution. An active category member of the St. Joseph Health Services of RI must agree to directly supervise all activities of the individual and accept full responsibility for students his/her activities in the hospital clinic setting. Final approval must be granted by the medical executive committee and the board of trustees.”

You can download the full medical staff policy on student clinical rotations here.

Thank you, Mary. You can enter yourself into the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium. Find all the contest rules here. The deadlines is April 15.

Contest entry: Nonstaff caregiver forms

Happy Free Form Friday!

Linda Van Winkle, CPMSM, CPCS, manager of medical staff services at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital in LakeCharles, LA, sent in these forms as an entry to the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium content.

I created these two forms when we started having to do a brief credentials check on “nonstaff caregivers” (those practitioners who are not on our medical staff but refer patients to our hospital for outpatient diagnostic testing). Rather than having the admitting and scheduling areas perform this function, we made the decision to do it in our department because: (a) we are responsible for the provider dictionary in the hospital’s patient information system (Meditech); (b) we are trained and experienced in verifying credentials, more so than the individuals who are scheduling outpatient tests; and (c) there is less turnover in our department. We believe this is a vital process and without the correct information entered into our credentialing database and then exported to Meditech, several hospital processes are adversely affected.

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Contest entry: FPPE policy and process flowchart

Keep those contest entries coming! Just one more week left until the Credentialing Resource Center Symposium contest closes and we announce the final winner.

Diane St. Pierre, medical staff coordinator at Saint Mary’s Health Care in Grand Rapids, MI, sent in this focused professional practice evaluation policy and process flowchart.

“We developed this policy by collecting various policy examples from other organizations, reviewing the guidelines and interpretations from The Joint Commission and discussing among our medical staff the type of program we wanted to establish to ensure a thorough evaluation of a practitioner’s performance.

The policy addresses all critical areas associated with the FPPE process, but allows for individualized plans to be established based on a practitioner’s clinical background and experience.  The flowchart provides physician leaders with an at-a-glance snapshot of how information needs to be processed based on the set of circumstances in review.”

Thanks for sharing! You can enter during this final week of the contest. See all contest rules here.