Speed Up Physician Credentialing, or Pay the Price

Reworking its process for getting physicians credentialed, insured, and approved to see patients yielded a "gigantic payoff" for Dayton Children's Hospital. Hiring physicians is difficult enough. But once you find them and bring them and their families to town, paying them while they can't see patients is a serious problem.

This is especially so when many of the physicians are specialists. When they can't see patients, they're a drag on revenues; they grow quickly dissatisfied, and it might eventually be tough to retain them.

The process of onboarding—getting hospital privileges, state licenses, background checks, malpractice insurance and payer credentialing, not to mention a host of other tasks that need to be completed before a new physician can begin seeing patients—can cost hospitals and health systems big money.

In a time where much of their business is being disrupted, for hospitals, any opportunity to shorten a process that dissatisfies while it siphons precious resources away from other important tasks can yield a big payoff.

Read the Entire Article as Published in HealthLeaders Media.