Healthcare Daily: The Generation Gap is Coming

Forney Fleming, December 9, 2013

The winds of change for our healthcare system are blowing at a gale force. The issues of excessive cost, mediocre quality, and limited access must be addressed, although it is not economically possible to address all three at the same time. Forces for change are coming from multiple areas, including payers, providers, patients and the government. Included in the forces of change are the young physicians who are members of the generational groups known as Generation X and Generation Y. In addition to the changing gender make-up of physicians (one-half of current medical school students are female) the future leaders of the medical profession represent a generation gap from their Baby Boomer Generation predecessors.

Read more at Dallas/Fort Worth Healthcare Daily.

FSMB: State Medical Board Leaders Make Progress Towards an Interstate Compact for Physician Licensure

On November 26, FSMB reported that "...state medical board representatives from around the country announced today that they have moved closer to a new option for medical licensing that would speed up the process of issuing licenses for physicians who wish to practice in multiple states."

"During a two-day meeting hosted by the Federation of State Medical Boards in Washington, D.C., Nov. 12-13, state board executives and policy experts continued to work out key details of the proposed system, known as the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Under the new system, physicians interested in practicing in multiple states would be able to receive a license in each state and be under the jurisdiction of the state medical board where the patient is located at the time of the medical interaction."

Read more from FSMB.

HRSA Seeking Feedback on Revised NPDB Guidebook

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), is seeking public comment on a draft of its revised NPDB Guidebook.  According to HRSA, the Guidebook revisions include legislative and regulatory changes adopted since its last edition (2001), as well as the merger of the NPDB with the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank. 

NAMSS is compiling a task force to provide feedback on the revised Guidebook.  If you are interested or have specific feedback that you would like the task force to include, please contact Molly Giammarco (mgiammarco@namss.org).  

Read more about the revised NPDB Guidebook.

MedPage Today: Residency Slots: A Crisis in the Making?

David Pittman, November 7, 2013

Alicia Billington can't help but be more nervous than usual about this coming spring's Match Day.

Last March, Billington, a fourth year MD-PhD candidate at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, saw several classmates end up unmatched to any residency program at the end of the excitement-filled day.

The aspiring plastic and reconstructive surgeon doesn't want to be like some other medical school graduates, without a residency -- or in a specialty she doesn't want -- after the dust settles on Match Day 2014.

Read the rest from MedPage. 

Happy National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week!

How Do We Help Keep our Patients Safe? 

• Through credentialing and privileging qualified and competent providers.

• Through ensuring that the Organized Medical Staff business is performed, documented, and endorsed by our MEC and Governing Board.

• Through helping to  implement initiatives that our Organized Medical Staff and Governing Board approve. 
  

• Through providing guidance and support to help our medical staff leaders make informed decisions.

• Through publishing the ER Call Schedule in a timely and accurate manner.

• Through tracking expiring credentials in all medical staff/allied health files.

• Through facilitating adherence to the medical staff bylaws, rules and regulations, TJC standards, and CMS and TDH guidelines.

• Through informing with the organized medical staff through newsletters and other effective communication mediums.

HealthLeaders Media: Peer Messengers Help Docs Get Back on Track

A program at VUMC is making significant inroads in helping physicians turn around their practices or behaviors after patients complain about them, either because of the doctors' actions or their clinical work.

Joe Cantlupe, October 24, 2013

If you are having trouble with your patients or not cutting it in clinical matters, you may get a visit from a "peer messenger." Often the news they bring isn't great.
And that's the idea.

Often, you don't have a clue you aren't passing muster, but the hospital has the data that shows you are not doing as well as you think. To help physicians get on track, The Center for Professional and Patient Advocacy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville several years ago designed the "peer messengers" program.

Read the rest at healthleadersmedia.com.

NYT: Should Medical School Last Just 3 Years?

Pauline W. Chen, October 24, 2013

Sandwiched between three mind-numbing years of basic science courses and hospital rotations and the lockdown years of residency training, the fourth year of medical school has long been a welcome respite for future doctors. It is the only time in their medical education when students have few requirements and a plethora of elective course offerings – and the time to go on vacation and spend time with friends and family.

“Do it now,” a mentor said as I was about to start my last year, “because you may never get the chance again.”

Read the rest at well.blogs.nytimes.com.

MSPs and “Making hospitals safer for patients”

Lindsay Pullen, NAMSS’ Senior Coordinator for Marketing & Communications – October 21, 2013

Joe Kiani, founder of The Patient Safety Movement Foundation, recently testified before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee and laid out steps to help eradicate preventable patient deaths. In his article “Making hospitals safer for patients,” he outlines several of these steps, including “Create a system of transparency,” and respecting “patient dignity.”

These efforts are crucial in ensuring patient safety, and we applaud the Patient Safety Movement Foundation for their efforts to ensure that all hospital patients receive safe, high-quality care. We’d also like to add another item to Kiani’s list: Ensuring that each and every practitioner in a facility is properly credentialed and proven competent.

As the gatekeepers of patient safety, MSPs are a crucial part of all efforts to eliminate preventable patient injury or death. With the approach of Medical Staff Services Awareness Week (November 3-9, 2013), it’s important to remember what a vital role MSPs play in ensuring the safety of every patient who passes through a facility.

HealthLeaders Media: Med Schools Failing on Conflict of Interest Policies

John Commins, October 14, 2013

"While medical schools have had clear guidelines for conflict of interest policies since 2006, many fall short of meeting the policies set forth by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Institute of Medicine, and others, research shows.

The nation's medical schools have made progress over the last five years developing clinical conflict of interest policies but they all still have a long, long way to go, a study shows." 

Read more from healthleadersmedia.com.

FSMB Seeks to Streamline Interstate Physician Licensing Process

Interstate Compact for Physician Licensure Moves Forward with Consensus Principles
 
FSMB Press Release, October 7, 2013

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) announced today substantial progress in an effort by state medical boards to develop a new system for streamlining medical licensure for physicians who wish to practice in multiple states.

Read the rest at fsmb.org.

A Post from NAMSS' Conference Committee Chair, Susan DuBois

As the Chair of NAMSS’ Conference Committee, I want to thank those of you who were able to attend the 37^th Annual NAMSS Conference -- in person or virtually.  This year’s conference provided outstanding educational opportunities including several pre-conference sessions and a multitude of breakout sessions covering credentialing and privileging, leadership, legal, and compliance.   Members who were onsite at the beautiful Westin Diplomat enjoyed excellent networking opportunities and an outstanding selection of vendors to visit in the exhibit hall.  If you haven’t completed the online evaluation of your conference experience, please take a few minutes to share your input by completing this survey.    

We are already planning the 38^th Annual NAMSS Conference, which will be held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel, October 4-8, 2014.  I would love to hear your ideas on how to improve the conference experience, so please email me susan.dubois@imail.org with your ideas and feedback.  If you were unable to attend this year’s Annual Conference, we certainly hope to see you in New Orleans next year!    

Sincerely,

Susan DuBois, CPCS

Chair, NAMSS Conference Committee

Check Out NPDB's Monthly Online Newsletter

NPDB just issued its October newsletter, which includes information on the 2014 ITP Sunset and transition to QRXS, details the Data Bank's user-centered design process, provides helpful hints to updating the Self-Query instructions and the report and query form's auto-complete enhancement.


October's issue, along with those from previous months, can be accessed here.

CMS to Allow Certain Non-physician Practitioners to Furnish Inpatient Service Orders

On September 5, CMS  announced that it will allow certain non-physician practitioners to furnish orders for  Medicare Part A's hospital inpatient services.  The announcement stipulates the information that orders must include, as well as the practitioners who can now document these orders.  These practitioners include:  physician assistants, residents, and registered nurses.  Order documentation must adhere to state law, hospital policies, and medical staff bylaws and rules.

Read more from CMS and the AHA. 

Fierce Healthcare: Nurse Practitioners Seek Insurer Credentials to Practice Primary Care

Insurer exclusion major barrier to independent practices 

Jack Budryk, September 10, 2013

To help meet the growing need for primary care services, nurse practitioners are asking the Obama administration to require insurers to credential them, Kaiser Health News reports. 

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates approximately half of the nation's nurse practitioners (NPs) work in physicians' offices. According to Deanna Tolman, an Aurora, Colo.-area advanced practice nurse, many NPs do not go into business for themselves because it's hard to get insurers to include them. "We're in this gray area: Insurers are fine with us providing care as long as we're working for physicians. But some of us don't want to work for physicians,"  Tolman told Kaiser Health News

Read the rest at fiercehealthcare.com.

Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program Receives Renewed Authority to Accredit Hospitals

September 3, 2013

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) continued deeming authority to accredit acute care hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid.  Based on its review of HFAP's hospital accreditation program, CMS has extended HFAP's deeming authority through September 25, 2019.

Read more about it from HFAP.