Synergy - September/October 2012 - 29

president’s column

President’s Message: Season of Change
continued from page 9

I will tell you about an experience I had a few years ago. A practitioner applied at my facility and, on the application, he embellished the dates he had spent at two facilities, extending the time he had left at one facility and adding time to the new facility he had moved to. When verifications came back, there was a year’s gap in time. In checking further, we found that he had been in another state that he had not disclosed and was terminated by two hospitals after being found downloading child pornography through the hospital systems to his personal laptop. However, before they could investigate and prosecute, he left the state; therefore, no

All MSPs who contribute data from their hospitals can sign up for NAMSS PASS beginning in 2013. Find more information on the NAMSS website at www.namss.org/NAMSSPASS. Again, for NAMSS PASS to be successful, it will be critically important that every healthcare entity contribute data for the good of the entire credentialing community. We could not make this any easier. MSPs will love having a one-stop resource to obtain verification information for affiliations to have a complete history. Physicians will love this getting credentialed sooner to start treating patients. Healthcare facilities will love using it to provide the best quality of care for their patients. This is a tremendous opportunity for everyone in our industry to make a tangible difference in improving efficiency in the credentialing process and to provide best practices for patient safety. Please join us in making history. ■ Best wishes, Connie

A good standing letter can be printed immediately. There are two template letters available that were designed and created by the NAMSS Board and the leading healthcare law firm, Horty, Springer, & Mattern. If a letter is not available, user is directed to contact the facility directly.

formal report was made. He came to our state and obtained a license through our board of medicine. They did not discover it. When we confronted him, he, of course, could not leave our state soon enough — no goodbyes, no thank you! But, again, our board of medicine did not investigate, as it would have been too costly to cross state borders. My point is: If we would not have checked affiliation history, simply for dates, who knows what might have happened? Again, it is about best practices and patient safety. Sure, The Joint Commission does not require it, but I would argue that maybe they should. These types of incidents may not happen often, but they do happen. NAMSS PASS data will allow you, at the click of a button, to access this information. It will be comprised of self-reported primary-source affiliation history from healthcare facilities nationwide. For this resource to be most effective and helpful, it is critically important that every healthcare entity contribute data for the good of the whole credentialing community. The standard release forms you already collect should allow for physician affiliation history to be shared in this way. This is a tremendous opportunity for everyone in our industry to make a tangible difference in improving efficiency in the data we provide.
September /Oct Ober 2012 SYNERGY / 29

http://www.namss.org/NAMSSPASS http://www.namss.org/NAMSSPASS http://www.hghealthcare.com http://www.hghealthcare.com

Synergy - September/October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Synergy - September/October 2012