Tip of the week: Communicate effectively with medical staff members

It seems no matter how hard MSPs and medical staff leaders to try communicate important credentialing changes to physicians, a few physicians will inevitably claim they were left out of the loop.

Ensuring effective communication can be challenging, especially when you have a large medical staff because not all practitioners prefer the same methods of communication. Additionally, some practitioners’ preferred method of communication may depend on the information that is being communicated.

How a message is worded can also make a difference to the physicians receiving it. For example, physicians typically prefer to receive news of new requirements from other physicians. If the message is drafted by a physician, it is more likely to be worded in a way that other physicians will be more receptive to.

For these reasons, medical staff offices should use multiple methods of communication, including:

• Electronic newsletters
• E-mails
• Web sites
• Blast faxes
• Department meetings

Once you have communicated credentialing changes and expectations, the staff must be held accountable for complying with them.

The preceding information was adapted from The Essential Guide to Medical Staff Reappoinment: Tools to Create and Maintain an Ongoing, Criteria-Based Process, Second Edition by Anne Roberts, CPMSM, CPCS.