Tip of the week: Take the burden out of credentialing telemedicine providers

CMS recently approved the final language of The Joint Commission standards regarding credentialing and privileging telemedicine providers. These standards make it easier for a hospital to utilize telemedicine services by allowing the hospital to use the credentialing and privileging information on file at the telemedicine provider's originating site in order to grant privileges at its own facility.

When deciding what information to collect about a telemedicine provider, Heather Johnson, director of ­physician services at Virtual Radiologic, says hospitals should consult their bylaws. If your bylaws allow your organization to use the telemedicine entity's credentialing and privileging information, she advises doing so. If not, you may want to consider revising your bylaws.

"There is a reason CMS and The Joint Commission changed their standards," says Johnson. "We see hospitals that do not take advantage of it and what a burden it can be on the medical staff. It ultimately affects patient care as well. So it is great to see hospitals embrace it and use it to the extent they can."

This week’s tip is from Credentialing Resource Center Journal, HCPro Inc.’s monthly credentialing newsletter. For more information, click here.