What your medical staff can do when self-governance gets political

For more than a century, the primary responsibilities of credentialing and peer review have been delegated to the medical staff. To fulfill this responsibility, medical staffs organized themselves under the principles of democratic self-governance. Early on, this meant direct democracy. The entire medical staff met monthly to make decisions that concerned credentialing and peer review. The same physicians typically constituted the county medical society, so they established the local standards of care and were responsible for holding their peers accountable for meeting those standards.

This is an excerpt from a members-only article. Please log in or become a member to read the complete article.