All Entries in the "medical staff services" 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
Participate in the 2013 MSP Salary Survey
We need your help! Credentialing Resource Center wants to know how the financial field is for MSPs in 2013. Please take a moment to complete our brief salary survey. The results of this survey will appear in a future issue of our newsletter Credentialing Resource Center Journal.
For taking part in this survey, we will enter your name into a drawing to win a copy of our latest credentialing book, written by Sally Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS, Carol Cairns, CPMSM, CPCS, Anne Roberts, CPMSM, CPCS, and Frances Ponsioen, CPMSM, CPCS. Note that your name will not be connected with the information you provide in the survey.
Please enter the following URL into the address bar of your browser to connect to our survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2013mspsurvey
I appreciate your time, and look forward to gaining insight into the current state of the medical staff services profession.
Best regards,
Katrina Gravel
Editor, Credentialing Resource Center Blog
Thinking about going paperless?
Over the years here at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, we have worked to streamline our credentialing processes as much as possible. Most of this is done through utilizing technology. We have implemented online physician orientation modules at initial and reappointment. WE have electronic OPPE data profiles that the division chiefs can log in and review electronically as well as drill down on quality indicators to get more specific data. FPPE is also electronic; it is linked to our electronic medical record system so proctors are notified electronically that there are cases for them to review and they can they complete the chart audit electronically. Through the use of laptops, we’ve had paperless medical staff meetings for many years.
We recently started the transition from using our old laptops in all of our medical staff meetings to incorporating iPad ©tablets. I asked our director of medical staff services, Kenneth Enad to give me a quick summary from his perspective on this new initiative. His words are worth sharing with others debating whether to go paperless:
“Preparing the packet for the credentials committee meeting has come a long way over the past few years. The entire team used to spend more than a full day gathering material for the packets and literally running around making copies to the point where it was an approved sneaker day. The environment would be such high stress, and I can’t even begin to count the number of times the copy machine would break!
I would say our transition from killing so many trees depended on two major steps. First, we developed an organized process to collect the material for the packet. We structured our shared network drive with a folder created for each major category (new applicants, additional privileges, reappointments, etc). Firm deadlines for each coordinator for getting the information into the folders gave the parameters necessary to allow all five MSPs to contribute to the packet without creating chaos. Secondly, using the Adobe © software and laptops, we found a viable technological solution to gather, merge, bookmark, and display the electronic packets. The committees found these very easy to navigate.
We’re now transitioning to the use of iPads for our meetings. We have found that these are far more cost effective than laptops, and a lot faster to “boot up” before a meeting. So far, the committee members have been very receptive to them. If they’ve never used an iPad © or the iBooks © app before, I give them a 30-second tutorial, and soon enough I see a smile on their face as they impressively tap, pinch, and swipe through the pages of the packet!”
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.
Templates for detailed peer review documentation
In the November issue of Medical Staff Briefing, we discuss peer review documentation and the importance of creating comprehensive records for peer review files. This includes documenting informal or collegial meetings with physicians, according to Joanne P. Hopkins, JD, a health law attorney based in Austin, Texas. Records of these interactions serve the purpose of establishing trends in physician performance and behavior, and may also be required as evidence in the event of a peer review hearing.
Hopkins, who presented on the importance of documentation in peer review and hearing preparation at the 2012 NAMSS conference in San Francisco last month, provided several examples of correspondence between the practitioner and the peer review committee following a meeting. These letters should include specific details about the meeting and any follow-up actions. See the attached document for Hopkins’ examples.
