When faced with a negligent credentialing claim, it is absolutely essential to preserve the integrity of documentation that is in the hospital’s or healthcare entity’s possession. Take steps to ensure that information does not go missing. In most organizations, a risk manager will place the...
CMS’s CoPs state that medical staff bylaws must “describe the organization of the medical staff” (42 CFR § 482.22(c)). One of the key structural questions a medical staff must ponder is whether to organize itself into clinical departments. Although there is no regulatory...
Medical staff officers have the responsibility to govern and oversee the administrative functions of the medical staff. In the past, the office of medical staff president or chief of staff was an honorary position that required little work—truth be told, most of that work was actually done by...
Committees of any kind often include a variety of participants and viewpoints, so a set of rules for participation must be set prior to the meeting. It’s especially important for the medical staff committee members themselves to establish these rules in order to achieve consensus and ensure...
Most medical staff bylaws contain a provision concerning the categories into which the medical staff will be divided. In fact, many medical staffs have created an unnecessarily complex array of categories. Many of these categories were created 20–30 years ago as medical staffs tried to...
When a concern with a pracititoner surfaces, always think, "What if this goes to a fair hearing?" Keep the following tips in mind throughout all professional review activities, even if a concern is not currently present. Issues sometimes surface much later, so you want to be confident that...
