Topic: Medical Credentialing

By Linda Ash-Jackson, MD
Ambulatory surgery center credentialing poses unique challenges for both administration and surgeons. For administration, keeping up-to-date with ambulatory surgery center credentialing requirements for a revolving roster of surgeons is a never-ending task.

Physician stress and burnout have negatively impacted the healthcare industry for years and worsened with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In April of 2021, Kaiser Family Foundation released a survey of 1,327 frontline healthcare workers.

Locations of care use provider credentialing to ensure all staff, applicants, and affiliated providers have the credentials necessary to perform their duties responsibly. Credentialing is how trust is cultivated within the healthcare industry,

The emergence and rapid spread of the COVID-19 delta variant have led to a dramatic rise in hospitalizations across the United States. According to the CDC, delta is twice as contagious as previous variants and appears to cause more serious symptoms in unvaccinated patients.

Physician burnout is real … and costly.
Aside from negative clinical outcomes, it’s costing the U.S. healthcare industry roughly $4.6 billion a year, according to a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

When you walk down the hospital hallways, have you ever wondered about the people you pass? Do they work at this facility, are they contractors, do they represent a pharmaceutical company?

Do you credential physicians? Clinical contractors? Vendors? Managing any credentialing program can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. It may require a great deal of investment in resources that are not available at every healthcare facility.