Credentialing has come a long way with the creation of Joint Commission Standards and increased attention to the importance of credentialing in healthcare. And, medical staff professionals are a dedicated well meaning group who have really evolved their profession.

However, there are two fundemental trends that continue to allow repeated failures in the credentialing process.

1. The C-Suite does not tend to view credentialling as a strategic function/process in healthcare delivery. As the old saying goes, “organizations do well what the boss checks.” The lack of executive oversight into the process of credentialing leaves the process exposed to problems.

2. There is a lack of automation in the process which would create the needed safeguards. Or, more accurately, automation is seldom used to manage the credentialing process. Automation creates structure and sanity in a very complex process. Again, the fact that the C-suite is not engaged in credentialing means funding is difficult to secure for credentialing automation.

John Eddy
IntelliSoft Group