Medical Licensing: Enough With the Paperwork Already
Medical Licensing: Enough With the Paperwork Already
Delays in credentialing, often adding up to months, deprive patients of clinical care and physicians of the ability to earn a living. (Ask a few random physicians how long it took to get their hospital privileges, and watch them roll their eyes.)
For example, I recently requested an application for privileges from a hospital that shall remain unnamed. Despite numerous requests on my part, it has been more than 2 months, and I have not yet received the application. (The actual hospital privileges will take months after submitting the as yet unavailable application.) The hospital's response? They simply don't have the "resources" to put the form in the mail. They are too busy processing other applications to mail out new applications!*
In another case, the number of requests by a hospital for "additional information" was so numerous and protracted that by the time the application was complete, the institution had been sold to another hospital system, which had a different application. So the process had to be started all over again.
In yet another case, I was unable to begin a locum job (in a state where I was already licensed) because the hospital could not grant privileges with nearly a 2-month lead time! I lost a work opportunity, and I don't know whether the hospital ever got coverage for their patients.
In our medical system, we agonize over every tidbit of a patient's privacy, even mandating secure email and fax systems that comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, the opposite is true regarding those who work in that system: Nearly every facet of a physician's life is exposed in these applications. The boilerplate disclosure states that these details can be shared with all necessary parties—which, if you read the fine print, includes almost everyone in the civilized world.
I bring up this seemingly trivial matter of high school graduation because it is symbolic of literally hundreds of picayune details demanded by these applications. These details must then be verified by some unfortunate office clerk, who may then be required to clarify the most insignificant of historical details because they are inconsistent with other equally insignificant historical details. Finally, the information must be entered into a computer, backed up, and presented at a hospital committee meeting so that privileges can be granted and patients can get care (after all, that is the purpose of the hospital).
This time-consuming and cumbersome process occurs at the hospital's expense, which is probably passed on to the hapless doctors applying for privileges. Multiplied by thousands of doctors and thousands of hospitals, this burdensome process adds enormous cost to the medical system. It is an example of data gathering gone wild—apparently a national epidemic, as evidenced by recent National Security Agency surveillance activities.
Interminable Delays
Delays in credentialing, often adding up to months, deprive patients of clinical care and physicians of the ability to earn a living. (Ask a few random physicians how long it took to get their hospital privileges, and watch them roll their eyes.)
For example, I recently requested an application for privileges from a hospital that shall remain unnamed. Despite numerous requests on my part, it has been more than 2 months, and I have not yet received the application. (The actual hospital privileges will take months after submitting the as yet unavailable application.) The hospital's response? They simply don't have the "resources" to put the form in the mail. They are too busy processing other applications to mail out new applications!*
In another case, the number of requests by a hospital for "additional information" was so numerous and protracted that by the time the application was complete, the institution had been sold to another hospital system, which had a different application. So the process had to be started all over again.
In yet another case, I was unable to begin a locum job (in a state where I was already licensed) because the hospital could not grant privileges with nearly a 2-month lead time! I lost a work opportunity, and I don't know whether the hospital ever got coverage for their patients.
Loss of Privacy
In our medical system, we agonize over every tidbit of a patient's privacy, even mandating secure email and fax systems that comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, the opposite is true regarding those who work in that system: Nearly every facet of a physician's life is exposed in these applications. The boilerplate disclosure states that these details can be shared with all necessary parties—which, if you read the fine print, includes almost everyone in the civilized world.
Discussion
I bring up this seemingly trivial matter of high school graduation because it is symbolic of literally hundreds of picayune details demanded by these applications. These details must then be verified by some unfortunate office clerk, who may then be required to clarify the most insignificant of historical details because they are inconsistent with other equally insignificant historical details. Finally, the information must be entered into a computer, backed up, and presented at a hospital committee meeting so that privileges can be granted and patients can get care (after all, that is the purpose of the hospital).
This time-consuming and cumbersome process occurs at the hospital's expense, which is probably passed on to the hapless doctors applying for privileges. Multiplied by thousands of doctors and thousands of hospitals, this burdensome process adds enormous cost to the medical system. It is an example of data gathering gone wild—apparently a national epidemic, as evidenced by recent National Security Agency surveillance activities.
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