All Entries in the "credentialing" Category
Survey says: Stay tuned
If you completed the recent Credentialing Resource Center salary survey, thank you! The results are in and we’re analyzing the information you provided. The survey garnered more than 500 participants and the early findings are interesting indeed. We look forward to providing the complete set of results in a future issue of Credentialing Resource Center Journal.
In the meantime, don’t forget to register for our three-part Overcoming Competency Assessment Challenges webcast series. The series kicks off on June 18 with a presentation that will focus on the challenges associated with assessing the competency of practitioners with temporary, telemedicine, and new technology privileges. Session 2 (July 23) will address advanced practice professionals and Session 3 (August 27) will tackle the challenges associated with practitioners in the ambulatory setting, practitioners with a narrow and/or specialized focus, and single practitioners in a specialty. You can get more information about these webcasts here.
Thanks for reading, and if you have a question or comment, please email me at mstevens@hcpro.com.
Most sincerely,
Mary Stevens
Editor, Credentialing Resource Center Blog
New issue of Credentialing Resource Center Journal now available
The April issue of Credentialing Resource Center Journal is now available and can be accessed by Credentialing Resource Center (CRC) members online at CredentialingResourceCenter.com. In this issue, learn about credentialing and privileging during a disaster:
Reacting quickly and effectively is a major part of successfully navigating the chaos that follows a disaster, according to David Bernard, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer for Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. During Hurricane Sandy, Bernard’s hospital took on evacuated patients and physicians from NYU Langone Medical Center and began processing applications for privileges as quickly as possible.
The team at Beth Israel developed a safe yet fast-tracked credentialing process to grant temporary privileges to incoming physicians; temporary privileges were then valid for 120 days.
“We used the temporary privilege category and relied a lot on NYU’s profiles in their credentialing system to avoid having to do the whole process from scratch, which takes weeks or months,” says Bernard.
Log on to the CRC website to read the entire story. Not a CRC member? Visit HCMarketplace.com for more information or to subscribe!
New Session announced for Greeley Seminars in CA January 24-26, 2013
Additional Complimentary Session Open for January 2013 Seminar Attendees
TOPIC: Catastrophe Preparedness- Learn critical liability mitigation skills first hand from the firm assisting Hurricane Sandy victim hospitals in New York and New Jersey
Have you already registered for, or are you planning to attend the Greeley Credentialing/Privileging and Medical Staff Leadership seminars in Indian Wells, Calif., January 24-26, 2013? For registered attendees of these live seminars, HCPro and The Greeley Company are pleased to offer a complimentary session titled, “How prepared is your hospital/health system for a catastrophic disaster?” on January 25, 2013.
Russell Phillips & Associates, a team of fire, code compliance, and emergency management experts, recently assisted hospitals in New York and New Jersey in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and will lead this session. You will learn:
- What are hospitals’ key vulnerabilities today?
- How prepared is your leadership team for catastrophe?
- If your infrastructure failed, have you properly pre-planned evacuation?
- What training should clinical leadership, clinicians, and ancillary/support services undergo to minimize the impact of evacuation?
- If another regional hospital fails, is yours prepared to handle an influx of patients?
Please note that all brochures are on one convenient download, with pricing and program descriptions. Click here to download your brochures and register today! Time is running out.
- Medical Executive Committee Institute, January 24-26, 2013
- The Credentialing Solution, January 24-26, 2013
- Peer Review Boot Camp, January 24-25, 2013
- Physician Hospital Integration and Alignment, January 24-26, 2013
It’s easy to register; just call 888-242-2642, or email pohara@hcpro.com or scalabro@hcpro.com.
Happy National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week!
Did you know that in 1992, President George H.W. Bush declared the first week of November as National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week? In his proclamation, Bush wrote that the week honors MSPs for playing “an important role in our nation’s healthcare system.” The National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) developed a press release for medical facilities to use in promoting this special week and explaining the role of the MSP. Let’s face it: many healthcare consumers are unaware of the medical staff services department. I will admit, I was one of those healthcare consumers who did know what the word credentialing meant before I started working at HCPro. Here is an excerpt from the NAMSS press release:
“MSPs are experts in provider credentialing and privileging, medical staff organization, accreditation and regulatory compliance, and provider relations in the diverse healthcare industry. They credential and monitor ongoing competence of the physicians and other practitioners who provide patient care services in hospitals, managed care organizations, and other healthcare settings.
“MSPs are a vital part of the community’s healthcare team. They are dedicated to making certain that all patients receive care from practitioners who are properly educated, licensed, and trained in their specialty.”
I think we can all agree that the role of MSP has expanded far beyond what can be summarized in a one-page press release. What I find amazing is how passionate MSPs remain about their work, even as their workload increases and they face greater resistance from physicians to complete all of these credentialing and competency checks. When I told two of my personal physicians what I do for work, they each responded with similar comments: “I hate that credentialing stuff. It takes up so much time and I have to fill out the same papers over and over.” I have to admit, I was kind of surprised to hear this. I guess I had hoped that physician resistance to credentialing was a myth. What I did not get a chance to ask either of my physicians about was their relationship with the MSPs at their hospitals. I will keep my hope alive that this answer would have been a lot more positive.
In honor of all that MSPs do, HCPro is offering you and your colleagues a 20% discount on all of our medical staff and credentialing products from Nov. 5-9. Visit the HCMarketplace and enter EB202434 during check out to receive your discount.
On behalf of HCPro, and as a patient who has always received great care from exceptional physicians, thanks for all of your hard work!
CRC Survey: What is your average application TAT?
Credentialing Resource Center wants to know what your organization’s average turnaround time is for medical staff applications. How long does it take for your medical staff services department or credentialing verification organization to process the application? How long does it take for the application to be reviewed by appropriate medical staff leaders and committees?
Please help us by taking this short survey. Results will be published on the blog and in other HCPro publications.
What’s new with CRC?
Dear readers,
Welcome back to the revamped Credentialing Resource Center blog. I know on first glance everything looks the same. And aesthetically speaking, it is. What changed is the scope of content on the blog. Some of you may be familiar with our sister blog, Medical Staff Leaders. The original intent was to have one blog for physicians to focus on medical staff issues and another for MSPs to focus on credentialing and privileging issues. What we continue to see at HCPro, Inc. is that these two areas are becoming more entwined as the two groups form a strong relationship. For this reason, we want MSPs and medical staff leaders to be exposed to the same news alerts, tips, and best practices to excel in their roles.
The blog will still feature posts from experts in both the medical staff and credentialing fields, now in one central location. I hope that you give all entries a read; even if at first glance you think it is not relevant to your job function, read it and pass it along to one of your colleagues!
Featured free webcast: ACOs influence on MSPs
By now, you’ve probably heard the acronym ACO a few times at your organization. Although there are still many questions, one thing is for sure: ACOs will create changes throughout the healthcare industry, including the medical staff office. For MSPs, what this most likely means is a change to how practitioners are credentialed.
Bruce D. Armon, Esq., a legal expert in corporate healthcare law, will present a free 30-minute webcast next week about the MSPs role in an ACO formation. Armon is managing partner of Saul Ewing LLP’s Philadelphia office and co-chair of its health law group. He is also a member of our panel of highly-respected experts presenting at the 15th Annual Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, May 10-11, in Orlando. For more information on the symposium, click here.
To sign up for this free webcast, call 781/639-5599 or click here.
Get creative, get 50% off price of CRC Symposium
One thing I’ve learned quickly in this role as credentialing editor is that MSPs love to share their great ideas with other MSPs. They know the stress their MSO faces and if they have a solution to a common medical staff problem, they don’t want to keep it a secret. With that said, HCPro wants to provide MSPs with a way to share their knowledge at the 15th annual Credentialing Resource Center Symposium. As part of the conference offerings, a poster session will be held; it’s an informal way for hospitals to share their medical staff office successes with each other, network, and exchange ideas and information.
Accepted poster presenters will receive a 50% discount off the price of two symposium admissions. Sorry, but those already registered for the symposium are not eligible for the 50% discount (but you could send someone else from your organization).
Any and all ideas are welcome. Some poster topics to consider include the following:
- How to train or incentivize medical staff leaders
- How to avoid negligent credentialing and malpractice claims
- How to conduct OPPE and FPPE
- How to develop a thorough and efficient credentialing processes
- How to develop privileging criteria and delineation of privileges
If you have a great idea for a poster and want to present it at this year’s conference, please download the attached CRC poster application, complete it, and e-mail it to kkondilis@hcpro.com. Thanks, and I look forward to receiving your application.
Featured webcast: Assessing the competence of low- and no-volume practitioners
Create strategic solutions to privileging low- and no-volume practitioners with advice from two leading medical staff and credentialing experts. In this online program, Yisrael M. Safeek, MD, MBA, CPE, FACPE, an experienced physician leader and former Joint Commission surveyor, and Sally Pelletier CPMSM, CPS, a national credentialing and privileging expert, walk medical staff leaders and medical services professionals through steps to develop a working strategy to establish competency for low- and no-volume practitioners.
Take a peek at the agenda:
- Contributing factors to the increase of low- and no-volume practitioners
- Governance documents that hamper the hospital’s ability to effectively manage low- and no-volume practitioners (i.e. link membership and privileges)
- How does low volume affect competence
- Matching privileges with competence
- Building a strategic approach to low- and no-volume practitioners (e.g. intended practice plan, medical staff development plan)
- Working strategies to address low- and no-volume
- A medical staff culture that feels an obligation to the low- and no-volume practitioners
- Types of data sources
- How to compile and present the data in a meaningful way
This webcast will be presented on Tuesday, February 21 at 1 p.m. To learn more or to register, click here.
A little play, a little work
Happy National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week! I hope you have had a chance to celebrate all of the hard work produced from your MSSD. This week is not just about celebrating though, it is also about teaching. This is your opportunity to show someone new (or remind someone a bit more seasoned) all of the great things that happen on a daily basis in your office. Practitioners and patients need to recognize that without the MSSD, their lives would be very different. How would practitioners prove they are competent and know how to provide quality care to patients? And how would patients get access to those exceptional practitioners?
Since this is your week, I have a suggestion: Take 10 minutes each day this week to explain your job to someone you have never explained it to before. Not sure what to say or how to condense your duties into a 10-minute conversation? Here is a cheat sheet from NAMSS. (For the quieter MSPs out there, print out a copy of the fact sheet and leave it on someone’s desk.)
MSPs:
- Are employed by hospitals, managed care organizations, group practices, and other healthcare settings across the United States
- Are experts in provider credentialing and privileging, medical staff organization, accreditation and regulatory compliance, and provider relations in the diverse healthcare industry.
- Credential and monitor the ongoing competence of the physician and other practitioners who provide patient care services in hospitals, managed care organizations, and other healthcare settings
- Attain certification in one or both of the following:
- Certified Professional in Medical Services Management (CPMSM). This certification is directed toward the broader responsibilities of MSPs and those who are charged with managing, improving, and implementing processes. Certification focuses on professionals who deal with governance, bylaws, medical executive committee responsibilities, and the overall compliance with internal policies and procedures as well as state, federal, and accreditation agencies.
- Certified Provider Credentialing Specialist (CPCS). The CPCS certification focuses on the responsibilities of credentialing specialists in various healthcare environments (i.e., hospitals, CVOs, PHOs, physician groups, ambulatory facilities, and managed care/health plans). The CPCS exam is for those professionals who specialize in processing initial and recredentialing applications, who perform primary source verification, and who ensure compliance with appropriate accrediting agencies.
This is obviously just the tip of the iceberg, but it serves as a great starting point.
And don’t forget, HCPro is offering you and your colleagues a 15% discount on all of HCPro’s medical staff and credentialing products through Nov. 12. Visit the HCMarketplace and enter EO107658A during check out to receive your discount.
