Don’t create a separate category for locums

Experts agree that locum tenens should not have their own medical staff category. “Membership on the medical staff typically denotes an association with a special prerogative, such as the right to vote or hold office,” says Sally Pelletier, CPMSM, CPCS, advisory consultant and chief credentialing officer for The Greeley Company in Danvers, Massachusetts. “Locums are filling a very specific clinical need and should be granted privileges, but not appointment to the medical staff.”

Putting locums in a special category can lead medical staffs to include language in their bylaws and/or policies that allows for an abbreviated credentials verification process. “That’s really dangerous,” explains Carol Cairns, CPMSM, CPCS, president of PRO-CON in Plainfield, Illinois. “An abbreviated process could open you up to a negligent credentialing case and jeopardize patient safety.”

If your medical staff has already established a separate category for these practitioners, make sure there is no difference between the way you process them and the way you process other applicants. “Organizations need to remind themselves that a locum physician is seeing and treating patients just like any other privileged practitioner,” says Pelletier. “They should take steps to reduce their risk by conducting appropriate due diligence for a locum tenens that mirrors that for any other applicant.”

The experts recommend that hospitals and healthcare systems assess their current medical staff bylaws language regarding locum tenens. Organizations should ask the following two questions:

• If bylaws provide for locum tenens privileging, is a “lesser” credentialing process outlined?
• Does that process create two standards of care, therefore potentially compromising quality and patient safety?

If the answer to either of these is “yes,” it’s time to revise.

Source: News and Analysis