Educate new MEC members about their credentialing responsibilities

Many medical executive committee (MEC) members take their posts in January, which is right around the corner. During the next few months, it is important to remember that new MEC members shouldn’t be thrown to the sharks. Rather, ease these individuals into their new roles by educating them about their new responsibilities and the medical staff’s expectations of them. By passing on the following information, you can help new MEC members get a jump start this January. The MEC is responsible for:

• Making recommendations to the board regarding the appointment, delineation of clinical privileges, reappointment, and corrective action.
• Developing specific policies outlining its role in the hearing, investigation, appointment, and privileging processes.
• Establishing a credentials committee to help perform the initial work of processing applications for appointment, reappointment, and privileges. Such a committee can be especially helpful in larger organizations in which the MEC no longer has time to perform all aspects of credentialing. The credentials committee reviews applications and makes recommendations to the MEC, which then makes its own assessment and recommendations to the board.
• Working with the credentials committee to draft a policy to keep credentialing information confidential.