Ask the expert: What is economic credentialing?

Economic credentialing assesses, as a qualifying factor, the financial impact of accepting a physician onto the hospital’s medical staff. Although the American Medical Association defines economic credentialing as an evaluation of economic factors unrelated to quality of care, this is generally true only in the narrowest sense of the term. In a much broader sense, economic credentialing might have everything to do with quality. The driving force behind economic credentialing is that it enables a hospital to obtain control over economic factors that affect the quality and range of services that a hospital can provide.

This week’s question and answer are excerpted from The Medical Staff Leaders’ Practical Guide, Sixth Edition, by William K. Cors, MD, MMM, FACPE, CMSL; Mary J. Hoppa, MD, MBA, CMSL; and Richard A. Sheff, MD.