Surprisingly, the role of paid medical management, such as the chief medical officer, vice president of medical affairs, or medical director, is not to manage the performance of physicians on the medical staff. That responsibility lies in the hands of the organized medical staff. Paid medical...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 4
In the past, hospitals created their own indicators for evaluating physician performance, but today, they can pick and choose from a plethora of national standards, including those from The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. However, not all...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 3
Last week's issue discussed planning an intervention as soon as a physician's performance comes into question. Planning ahead can turn an awkward situation into a productive one, but as with anything, practice makes perfect. Practicing an intervention, whether...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 3
Last week's "Ask the expert" column addressed when it is appropriate to use perception data to evaluate physicians' performance. But collecting data on hard-to-measure competencies, such as communication and professionalism, can be difficult. Hospitals can collect active and/or passive...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 3
Medical staffs that achieve tangible outcomes from their leadership training programs are those that quantify in advance their expected return on investment. When determining how much to invest, consider the following statistics: * Adopting a streamlined fair-hearing process could result in the...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 2
In the past, most hospitals have relied on clinical data to evaluate physician performance, but more and more organizations are recognizing that skills and knowledge are only a part of what defines a good physician.
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 2
Quality improvement (QI) involves proactively evaluating an organization's functions, services, products, and processes on an ongoing basis and asking how each of those areas can improve. It focuses not only on improving the status quo, but also preventing certain problems from emerging in the...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 2
Prepare for physician intervention
Dear medical staff leader,
In last week's Tip of the Week, we discussed taking a proactive stance to poor performance. Establishing a series of interventions as soon as a physician's performance appears on the radar screen, although sometimes seen...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 1
A medical facility's culture, size, and location (urban or rural) will dictate the specifics of medical staff leaders' duties, but all medical staff leader job descriptions should contain some common criteria.
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 9, Issue 1
Many medical staff leaders are uncomfortable approaching physicians whose performance has been deemed questionable and often wait until conclusive data or an adverse event forces them into action. Managing poor performance should be thought of as a series of escalating interventions designed to...