MSPs as expert witnesses

The skills that MSPs use every day—in-depth knowledge of regulations, attention to detail, and the ability to follow sketchy paper trails—can help an MSP become an expert witness in credentialing and privileging cases, according Kathy Matzka, CPMSM, CPCS, a healthcare consultant based in Lebanon, Illinois.

Matzka offered tips for exploring this avenue during the NAMSS Educational Conference and Exhibition in Seattle earlier this week.

Serving as an expert witness is time-consuming and tedious at times, but it’s also a way for MSPs to expand their career horizons. It’s not high court drama: Often, expert witnesses aren’t called for courtroom testimony, but are hired to determine if there is enough information for a case. That determination may involve many hours of reviewing documents, sorting relevant information from irrelevant, taking notes, and identifying missing information.

To become an expert witness, an MSP must first answer a basic question: Do I have time for this?

If the answer is yes, then the MSP must demonstrate their expertise in the field. This can be done by maintaining specialized training (as through certification), publishing articles or papers about credentialing and privileging, and serving as an officer or volunteering in an association related to the field. Qualifications for expert witness status vary by state, she said.

Watch for more about MSPs as expert witnesses in a future issue of the Credentialing Resource Center Journal.