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Have you had advanced practice professionals (APP) expand their scope of practice without the authority to do so?

Hospitals must report adverse actions taken against the privileges of a physician or dentist. They may choose to report actions against the privileges of other healthcare providers, but reporting is not required.Hospitals must report adverse actions taken against the privileges of a physician or dentist. They may choose to report actions against the privileges of other healthcare providers, but reporting is not required.

The hospital was not aware of Bello’s criminal record when he was hired in 2014, despite running a background check.

"We must transform the culture of error disclosure in the medical community from one that is often punitive to one that is restorative and supportive. And to do that, we must tend to the psychological challenges that medical professionals wrestle with when they face the possibility of disclosing an error."

Medical staff governing documents must articulate the standards that practitioners must meet to qualify for medical staff membership. In general, the list of qualifications will address the applicant’s background, experience, ability to perform requested privileges, training, and demonstrated current competence; adherence to professional ethics; reputation; and any other factors appropriate to the effective operation of the hospital. Here is sample bylaws language your organization can use to set the standards for qualifying for medical staff membership or privileges.

From state to state, the effectiveness of protecting credentials documents from legal discovery varies widely. Most states have fairly strong protections, but a handful of states are exceptions to this rule. In most jurisdictions, credentialing forms, such as the following, are discoverable by attorneys.

Also, physician sentenced for taking blood-lab bribes; task force floats amendments to the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute

Our topic for this column is one that is not often written about or focused on by various regulatory bodies. No one would argue that hospitals do not have their fair share of rules, regulations, policies, and procedures. Hospitals regularly schedule ongoing reviews of medical staff bylaws, medical staff rules and regulations, and policies and procedures; they subsequently submit such documents for governing body approval.