Taking a corrective action against a colleague is one of the most difficult challenges medical staff leaders can face. Many physicians are fearful to place a colleague in corrective action. They might not want to take away or restrict another practitioner’s livelihood. They could also be afraid...
The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA) has no provision or requirement for an appellate review mechanism. However, if your hospital is accredited by The Joint Commission (TJC), standard MS.10.01.01, EP 5 states, “With the governing body, provides a mechanism to appeal adverse...
The process of a hearing following the medical executive committee’s (MEC) recommendation is an important right that must be spelled out in the bylaws. The hearing process will be explored in depth in four separate installments. This month, we will examine the initiation and notice of a fair...
The World Health Organization has recently defined burnout as an official medical diagnosis, explaining it as a syndrome that results “from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;...
Member rights is a logical starting point for the bylaws. The most fundamental rights accorded members of the medical staff relate to the due process they are provided if the medical executive committee (MEC) recommends that corrective action. Corrective action is defined as the termination of...
The bedrock of the medical staff due process manual is a federal statute named the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA). As with many laws and statutes, a specific case triggered HCQIA. The story is worth repeating as it highlights what constitutes good-faith and bad-faith peer...
Healthcare providers are taking on increased risk under accountable care models like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Pathways to Success plan to overhaul the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). To ensure the success of value-based initiatives, leadership teams have...
Medical staff officers have the responsibility to govern and oversee the administrative functions of the medical staff. In the past, the office of medical staff president or chief of staff was an honorary position that required little work—truth be told, most of that work was actually done by...
The hospital governing board’s oversight responsibilities are critical to the success of the organization. Governing boards need information that can enable them to optimally perform their duties. The roles and responsibilities of the governing board include everything from ensuring cost-...
Working together to solve a problem is much better and less frustrating than going it alone, or worse, working at odds with someone else approaching the same challenge. The takeaway message from this series to date is to figure out how medical staff leaders and MSPs can jointly use their unique...
