All Entries in the "privileging" 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 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.
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.
Patient Satisfaction Blog Series for CRC 2012
Courtesy and Respect? Don’t have to; I’m the Physician!
As I mentioned in my last post, there are three physician-specific questions on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems HCAHPS survey:
- During this hospital stay, how often did doctors treat you with courtesy and respect?
- During this hospital stay, how often did doctors listen carefully to you?
- During this hospital stay, how often did doctors explain things in a way you could understand?
This post will deal with tips to improve your scores on the courtesy and respect question. Hopefully you have bought into the concept that improving patient satisfaction improves quality. If you haven’t yet, then try these suggestions and see what happens.
Since approximately 85% of communication is non-verbal, pay particular attention to your body language. We have all been in situations where the body language was so loud, that the spoken words could not be “heard.” Clear your mind prior to beginning the encounter.
Brush up on your polite behaviors such as:
- Knocking on the door before entering
- Making eye contact with the patient and visitors
- Introducing yourself and the members of your team
- Addressing the patient by their preferred name
Do not discuss the patient in the third person when they are present. They are not just the “gallbladder in room 203” but actually a person, too.
These are just a few of the proven methods to improve patient satisfaction and your score on this question. Try these out this week; next week I’ll be sharing about listening skills.
Editor’s note: William Mills, MD, MD, MMM, CPE, FACPE, CMSL, FAAFP, is a featured speaker at the 15th annual Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, May 10-11. He will be speaking on using patient satisfaction scores to drive improvement as well as how to privilege low- and no-volume practitioners. For more information, click here.
Holy Moly, He Wants to Come Back!
Okay, here are the questions:
- What do you do when the physician requests his privileges be restored after he returns from rehab for his cocaine and sexual addictions?
- What do you do when the 67-year-old internist, who retired five years ago, has just been hired by administration to be your new hospitalist?
- What do you do when your favorite cardiologist returns from a medical leave of absence after suffering a significant stroke?
Of course, these scenarios cause more questions than answers. You suddenly wish you had declined the invitation to be chief of staff of your medical staff. The fact remains that demographics apply to physicians as well as the general public.
Alcohol and substance abuse is 12-14% in the general population and is the same or somewhat higher in the physician population. (P Hughes, Prevalence of Substance Abuse Among US physicians, JAMA, 1992) Sexual addiction, especially cyber addiction to pornography, is present in 6-8% of the general population and one out of five are women. (Carnes, Am J Prev Psychology Neurology, 1991, 3:16-23) Dementia is present in 13.9% of individuals 71 and older and 9.7% of these have Alzheimer’s disease. (Plassman, et al, Neuroepid, 2007) Stroke recovery is possible, but of course, varies widely depending on age, severity of the injury, rehabilitation efforts, and support to name a few. None of us are immune from these possibilities.
Okay, now a few answers. Patients are more important than physicians. Don’t get caught in the trap of treating physicians as “special people.” First and foremost, you should have a concrete policy for dealing with all of the above possibilities. It must be iron clad, fair and equitable, be consistent with HIPPA and the American Disability Act, should be patient-safety focused but also allow for the physician to return to your medical staff. This begins with a viable and credible Physician Health Committee, an engaged credentials committee, OPPE and FPPE plans on steroids, legal advice, and a “Fitness to Work” evaluation from an objective and independent physician.
Want more from Dr. White? R Dean White DDS, MS, of Dean White Consulting, will be speaking about how to create a physician re-entry process at the 15th Annual Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, May 10-11. For more information, click here.
Patient Satisfaction Blog Series for CRC 2012
Pat Sat/HCAHPS/P4P – Huh?
This is the first of a series of five postings that will attempt to make sense of some the above. Patient satisfaction has risen to the top of many a list as the government and other payers are establishing pay for performance (P4P) initiatives. One of the reasons everyone is working on this is there is a clear connection between patient satisfaction and quality. Check out the New England Journal of Medicine for more information on this (2008; 359:1921-1931).
Because patients, payers, and politicians now care about patient satisfaction, the next three posts will provide tips for improving scores on the three physician specific questions on the HCAHPS questionnaire. The last post will tie it all together to show physicians and MSPs how patient satisfaction affects physician performance.
To start, what is HCAHPS? The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems is a 27-question survey developed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with the following goals in mind:
- To produce data about patients’ perspectives of care that allow objective and meaningful comparisons of hospitals on topics that are important to consumers
- To create incentives for hospitals to improve quality of care by making public survey results
- To enhance accountability in healthcare by increasing transparency of the quality of hospital care provided in return for public investment (also by making public the survey results)
Although this survey covers a number of areas, my blog posts will cover these three physician-specific questions:
- During this hospital stay, how often did physicians treat you with courtesy and respect?
- During this hospital stay, how often did physicians listen carefully to you?
- During this hospital stay, how often did physicians explain things in a way you could understand?
Until next time, try to get your arms around the fact that improving patient satisfaction will improve quality. For many of us, this fact will be difficult to swallow, but swallowing (internalizing) this will be critical for our success in the future.
Editor’s note: William Mills, MD, MD, MMM, CPE, FACPE, CMSL, FAAFP, is a featured speaker at the 15th annual Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, May 10-11. He will be speaking on using patient satisfaction scores to drive improvement as well as how to privilege low- and no-volume practitioners. For more information, click here.
