The quality management department's role be in peer review

Why do so many organizations struggle with peer review? During the recent webcast, “Peer Review: Seven Challenges and Realistic Solutions,” which is now available on-demand, speakers Robert J. Marder, MD, and Mark Smith, MD, MBA, FACS, dissected major issues that plague the peer review process. They also answered peer review questions from the audience regarding data collection, peer review committee meetings, and process improvement. The following is one of their response to a listener submitted question:

Q: What should the quality management department's role be in peer review—should it be involved in the peer review process and the OPPE process?

Dr. Marder: That varies by institution. For the most part, quality management is responsible for data so these are the people getting the data. Mainly it's important for organizations to understand that whoever does it, they're supporting and serving the medical staff, and look for direction from the medical staff rather than just telling them. "This is what you've got and this is what we're going to do." It doesn't matter which department does these functions as long as they have the expertise and the physician-service focus, engagement, and interaction with medical staff.

Dr. Smith: It's the skill set that people bring to the table that's useful, not the name of the department. So if the people with that skill set are somewhere else, it's fine for them to fill those roles.

For information more information about this webcast or to order it on-demand, click here.