Stand your ground when credentialing best practices are on the line
This week, CRC Daily covers credentialing. Today, we explore one potential side effect of growing clinician shortages: Undue pressure on MSPs to cut corners during the credentialing process.
No matter how pressing the need is to fill a vacancy, or how much the medical staff services department (MSSD) can finesse the typical credentialing timeline, certain medical staff candidates won't make the cut. If an expedited application raises any concerns about quality (e.g., a negative reference or major NPDB hit), MSPs should follow their organization's standard protocol for digging deeper. Given the sensitive nature of the situation, they should be specific and clear when documenting their rationale for stalling the application's progress.
If administration pushes back, MSPs should stand their ground and provide a realistic estimate for how long the follow-up process will take, says Cindy Radcliffe, CPMSM, director of medical staff services at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California.
In addition, Radcliff finds it helpful to recall the tenets of credentialing: To preserve the integrity of the medical staff and the safety of patients.
"No shortcuts," says Radcliffe. "You still have to do your job. You still have to complete that file to the best of your ability and as quickly as possible. But do it the way that you always do it for every application."
Support from MSSD managers can cement MSPs' resolve under contentious circumstances, she adds.
Ideally, this support will also come from outside the department, says Marna Sorensen, CPMSM, former director of medical staff services at Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho.
"The MSP has to work really closely with the credentials chair and the committee, so they back up the medical staff office and say, 'It doesn't meet our criteria. We're sticking to our guns,' " she explains. "The credentials committee, and especially the chair, have to be all on the same page."