All Entries Tagged With: "competency"
Tip of the week: Use professional reference questionnaires to make sound credentialing decisions—Free form!
It is more important than ever to create an effective method of capturing performance data that allows the credentials committee and others to make evidence-based credentialing and privileging decisions. However, obtaining more than a neutral letter from an applicant’s previous or current affiliations can be difficult.
A carefully designed, criteria-based reference questionnaire can be one of the most valuable tools in your credentialing and privileging tool box. One form can capture the information credentialing professionals need from an initial applicant’s past department chairs, postgraduate training directors, and professional references.
When querying reference sources, always include a copy of the privileges the (re)applicant requested at your facility with the reference questionnaire. Ask the reference source to comment on the applicant’s competence to perform all of the privileges requested.
This week’s tip was adapted from Assessing the Competency of Low-Volume Practitioners: Tools and Strategies for OPPE and FPPE Compliance, by Mark A. Smith, MD, MBA, CMSL and Sally Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS. For more great tips and tools to help you with your low-volume provider conundrum, join HCPro and The Greeley Company for “Low-Volume Providers Workshop: Solutions to Assess Competency and Comply with FPPE and OPPE” on Oct. 19! Purchase both the book and Web cast and get a discount!
Source: Medical Staff Leader Connection
NCQA’s take on ongoing monitoring requirements
The biggest stumbling block for medical staff offices these days seems to be complying with The Joint Commission’s standards for ongoing monitoring. But that’s not the only accrediting organization to have such a standard.
NCQA also has an ongoing monitoring standard as part of its health plan accreditation. The September issue of Briefings on Credentialing (available online in mid-August) features a Q & A with Frank Stelling, MEd, MPH, assistant director of policy at NCQA. He says that NCQA-accredited organizations have not struggled to comply with this standard. He also outlines ways NCQA-accredited organizations meet this standard. Some of their techniques may be applicable to Joint Commission-accredited organizations, too.
Here’s what he told BOC:
Hot topic: Low-volume providers
The medical staff crowd is buzzing with questions regarding credentialing and privileging low- and no-volume practitioners. The topic gets hotter as more physicians abandon hospital care to focus on their more lucrative outpatient practices, which inevitably makes it difficult for the medical staff services department to assess their clinical competence.
The Greeley Company is addressing low- and no-volume providers in its new white paper: Low-Volume/No-Volume Practitioners: Best Practices for Competency, Privileging, and Strategy. Check out this excerpt:
A best practice is to develop your approach to low-volume/no-volume providers,
including the design and implementation of an effective outreach program, as part of a comprehensive strategic medical staff plan. In the past, healthcare organizations created physician recruitment plans based on the demographic analysis of current physician-to-population ratios and an aging analysis of current members on the medical staff roster. Such medical staff development plans were adequate for demonstrating community need and justifying recruitment and salary guarantee support, but they are no longer adequate to meet today’s challenges. Now, a strategic medical staff development plan needs to begin by recognizing the medical staff as one of the hospital’s most valuable resources.
If there is one thing that I’ve learned from all the buzz, it’s that this issue needs to be tackled from two angles: the credentialing and privileging issues related to low- and no-volume providers to help MSPs do their jobs more effectively, and strategic development planning spearheaded by leaders. If medical staff leaders aren’t tackling strategic planning issues, MSPs will have a more difficult time helping the hospital comply with the Joint Commission’s FPPE and OPPE standards.
I’d love to hear from you if your facility has questions or concerns regarding low- and no-volume practitioners. And of course, we’re always looking great tips, so e-mail me at ejones@hcpro.com if you want to share your formula for success! I’d also suggest picking up a copy of Assessing the Competency of Low-Volume Practitioners, Second Edition. I may be a bit biased, but I think it’s a great resource for MSPs and medical staff leaders alike.
When do you require written statements about work gaps?
Most organizations require practitioners to provide a written statement explaining gaps in work history on a credentialing application. But what is the length of the gap that requires written documentation? Take our quiz, and see how your facility ranks against others.
For more information about verifying work history gaps, check out the May 2009 issue of Briefings on Credentialing.
AZ medical board cutting costs, but with risk
I came across an interesting article describing the Arizona Medical Board’s decision to cut costs by terminating therapy for physicians with substance abuse problems. The board claims that the cost-cutting measure is low-risk because the providers undergoing treatment brought their additictions to the board’s attention rather than waiting to be discovered through an arrest or complaint.
However, the board’s decision has not gone unopposed. A physician at Scottsdale Healthcare says that ending treatment programs early can put patients at risk of relapse, and there is no way to determine which physicians are likely to relapse.
Here is my question: Is saving $37,000 worth the risk to patient safety? Is it worth otherwise good physicians from losing their licenses? Will we see more cases like Poliner?
Simulation training in the real world
Here’s a great story from a resident’s point of view about simulation training. It seems that many of the elements here (manikins, manifested ailments, role of patient’s families) could be translated to a simulation program used for competency assessments.
Free Form Friday: OPPE policy
Welcome back to the fifth – and final – week of Free Form Friday!
This week’s form is a sample ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE). It contains the framework of one medical staff’s OPPE policy, and is intended to be customized by individual departments. As always, it is a sample form and should be tailored to comply with your organization’s policies.
To access this week’s form, click here.