The current healthcare environment is competitive and clouded with many third party interests, especially in matters pertaining to patients’ and staff safety. The federal government is tightening rules governing healthcare safety protocols, while patients and families as biased towards healthcare organizations promising high quality medical care services.
Due to the mounting pressure on the quality of healthcare that patients should enjoy and amount of security that healthcare staff should be guaranteed, there has risen a need the need for rigorous, fast, and efficient medical credentialing solutions.
A process that was not so much robust as hinted in the history of medical credentialing, is now taking a full advantage of technology to smoothen the different verification protocols set by their in-house regulatory teams, as well as the federal government.
Medical credentialing procedures were initially manually carried out by in-house institutional teams, allocated by healthcare facilities management. In a bid to meet the highest required credentialing standards and avert consequences resulting from non-compliance with medical credentialing policies, healthcare institutions are now outsourcing their credentialing responsibilities to third parties such as Symplr medical credentialing solutions.
Unlike in-house medical credentialing teams who overly on manual verification procedures, third parties have heavily invested in medical credentialing technologies which make the whole process faster, more transparent, error-proof, and efficient.
General credentialing; verifying absolutely anyone gaining access to a medical facility
To keep a medical facility, safe, secure, and in compliance with the set regulations, anyone entering the medical facility should be absolutely screened and verified. This involves managing the different requirements of nurses, doctors, families, patients, contractors, and everyone in between accessing the medical facility.
Symplr is an example of a robust general credentialing system that provides a variety of fantastic features including revolutionized check-in processes that can be synchronized with smartphones. The system also provides at a glance dashboard with details of whose is onsite and who has breached the security protocols.
Vendor credentialing; ensuring that vendors are fully compliant
To engage various supplier in different healthcare contracts, they have to meet certain requirements including a clean professional background free of questionable dealings. Additionally, vendors with conflicting interests in the procurement procedures should be avoided as they could water down the quality of healthcare services, as well as pose various threats to the healthcare organizations.
To easily accomplish this exercise, web-based vendor credentialing solutions, that captures federal data on various suppliers, including the status of their licenses and professional background is essential. Thanks to technology which has already made the solutions available.
Exclusion screening; per the guidance of Office of Inspector General (OIG)
The Office of Inspector General requires that all entities, directly or indirectly involved in in patients care, in hospitals receiving funding from the federal or state government be screened.
The exercise which should be conducted at least once per month, demands the screening of all employees, vendors, contractors, students, volunteers, among other person entering the covered health facilities. This eliminates or minimizes the chances of conflicting interests, that might endanger the integrity of medical healthcare.
Robust, fast, reliable, and accurate medical credentialing protocols are the new face of the healthcare industry. They not only ensure the safety of patients and staff but also guarantee the smooth running of healthcare facilities, as well as eliminate bias thereby improving the quality of healthcare services.