Hospitals
are employing (and contracting with) more and more physicians.
This should make the "problem" physician a thing of the past
or, at least, should make it easier to deal with problems that
might arise. But over and over again, we see hospitals recruit
a physician who turns out to be the hospital's worst nightmare
and then pay large sums of money to make the nightmare go away.
This
happens because of the disconnect between a hospital's contracting
objectives and its well established credentialing processes.
Successful contracting cannot exist outside of the credentialing
arena. At the same time, good contract language can make your
credentialing and peer review problems much easier to solve.
Join
Henry Casale and Susan Lapenta, partners at HortySpringer,
for a discussion about ways to be more successful
in contracting and tips to deal with peer review issues involving
contracted physicians, including:
- Setting
high standards for all medical staff members, including
your contract physicians
-
Linking
the contracting and credentialing functions in your hospital
-
Querying
the data bank as part of the recruitment process
-
Helpful
provisions that should be in your exclusive, employment and
recruitment contracts
-
Contract
provisions to avoid
-
When
to use (and when not to use) the credentialing process to
address issues with contract physicians
-
How
to stop the bleeding once a problem is determined to exist
with a contract physician
-
Reporting
obligations when contracts are terminated
-
Cutting
a deal with a contract physician: what can you say (or not
say) to references and what are the legal risks of saying
too little
