Granting emergency privileges

The term emergency privileges usually refers to a situation in which a patient requires urgent care (i.e., the patient would be at risk of harm if he or she were moved), and no physician on the medical staff can provide the specific care necessary. In this situation, a practitioner may be granted privileges to care for the patient until the situation is resolved.

Emergency privileges are not defined by accrediting bodies but may be defined in a hospital’s bylaws as a special type of temporary privilege. The Joint Commission refers only to two types of temporary privileges: those for an important patient care need and those for an applicant with a clean application that is waiting to go through the medical executive committee (MEC) and board approval process. Regardless of what the medical staff decides to call this type of privilege—whether it be "emergency," "temporary privileges for care of a specific patient," etc.—the requirements include verifying identity, current licensure, education/training (via the American Medical Association [AMA] or American Osteopathic Association [AOA]), and current competence and querying the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).

Verification of licensure is very clear and easy to accomplish. The bylaws should define how the medical staff office will verify competency in an urgent situation. Emergency privileges refers to a situation that does not allow time to request and await the return of peer evaluations. In many situations, the physician requesting emergency privileges is coming from a hospital in a nearby community or even another hospital in the same town. Members of the medical staff may know them, and they may have been asked to be involved in the patient’s care because they have special expertise that is unavailable at the facility. Current competency in an emergency situation could be accomplished through a verbal recommendation from a member of the medical staff who knows the physician. The medical staff office would also obtain the AMA or AOA profile report that would verify training and board certification, if applicable.