Form letter verifications

Today's Quick Tip concerns form letter verifications. This type of verification is still widely used, but many MSPs consider form letters to be a low-yield credentialing tool. However, your form letter procedures can be "optimized" to get the best possible return on your time and effort.

Q: If a facility is hesitant to respond to my verification request because of a known issue, would it be possible for the provider to obtain privileges without that verification?

A: Regardless of your policy on the number of affiliations you query, consider requiring a response for all requests sent. For example, if you are in a rush to complete a file, sent six requests and received your required five responses, call the missing affiliation to see why you haven't been able to receive a response. If it is because of something like understaffing or pending deadlines in that medical staff office, try to get a verbal verification. If you aren't able to get that, clearly document the conversation in the file. This way, you meet your policy of obtaining five responses, and also confirm whether the provider had glaring issues at the outlying facility.

—Rosemary Dragon, CPMSM, CPCS, in the Credentialing Resouce Center Journal, January 2013.