The U.S. health care system is famously resistant to government-imposed change. It took decades to create Medicare and Medicaid, mostly due to opposition from the medical-industrial complex. Then it was nearly another half-century before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. But the COVID-19...
Member rights is a logical starting point for the bylaws. The most fundamental rights accorded members of the medical staff relate to the due process they are provided if the medical executive committee (MEC) recommends that corrective action. Corrective action is defined as the termination of...
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is highlighting the need to reduce regulatory burdens in healthcare, the president of a physician organization says.
Healthcare is one of the most highly regulated sectors in the U.S. economy. Regulatory compliance costs hospitals $1,200...
Credentialing Resource Center Journal - Volume 29, Issue 6
The credentials committee is perhaps one of the hardest working committees. Most physicians who agree to participate in a credentials committee do so without truly understanding the importance of the role and its responsibilities, and usually without having much training or experience.
Requests for leaves of absence have become more common in recent years, and it is important for medical staffs to have clear policies regarding their use. A member of the medical staff may request a leave of absence for personal reasons (e.g., the birth of a child, illness of a family member,...
The bedrock of the medical staff due process manual is a federal statute named the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA). As with many laws and statutes, a specific case triggered HCQIA. The story is worth repeating as it highlights what constitutes good-faith and bad-faith peer...
