At the Becker's ASC 21st Annual Meeting — The Business and Operations of ASCs, Oct. 23 to 25, in Chicago, Sharon Kimbrough, CPCS, CPMSM, manager, medical staff services and credentialing at Surgical Care Affiliates, discussed the importance of physician credentialing as well as inherent challenges.
It is hard to identify healthcare workers on face value alone, said Ms. Kimbrough. ASCs need to make sure that they are checking that all those who provide care at their center are appropriately credentialed.
"If a facility does not undertake proper credentialing efforts, they run the risk of opening up their surgery center to a gap," she said. "The public puts their faith in the hands of their healthcare facilities. Credentialing supports a center's goals and objectives, and it ensures higher quality care."
Here are 10 common credentialing mistakes that surgery centers make, according to Ms. Kimbrough:
· Not having an appropriate employee who is skilled and knowledgeable in the credentialing role.
· Not having a predefined process for application requests.
· Not having intuitive and user-friendly credentialing software.
· Not updating clinical privilege forms.
· Not having completed files before committee action.
· Not following regulatory and accreditation standards.
· Not following the facility's governance documents.
· Not linking quality to appointment of physicians.
· Not understanding the approval process.
· Not engaging everyone in credentialing.
There is no dearth of terrifying stories about non-qualified healthcare workers performing procedure on patients with fatal results. "If you do not ensure that your healthcare practitioners are legally certified and competent, you are opening up your facility to the threat of negligence," said Ms. Kimbrough. "Investing in a person who understands and is trained in credentialing, having thorough processes in place and bringing in credentialing software are some of the ways in which ASCs can stay on top of credentialing efforts."