Case Study - Practitioner Management: Credentialing

February 22, 2021 RLDatix Marketing

CHALLENGE

When this organization first came to RLDatix, they were experiencing high staff turnover and poor survey performance. Managing practitioner performance and credentialing involved tedious, time-consuming manual processes. Feedback from medical staff was the only source of data, and capturing that feedback involved inefficient, error-prone, paper-based reports. Credentials Committee meetings were a tedious process with  low attendance. They needed a way to pull more accurate data, along with a more effective process for managing provider performance and  credentialing, including telehealth providers. 

TRANSFORMATION

Part of the Practitioner Management application, RLDatix’s credentialing solution delivers streamlined credentialing workflows, self-maintenance tools for practitioners, privilege management, and a centralized  credentialing data source for clinical and practitioner information—all important elements of maintaining quality  outcomes, practitioner satisfaction, and an exceptional patient experience.  

Leveraging RLDatix’s credentialing solution, all provider information was reviewed, standardized, digitized, and set to an ongoing review schedule, ensuring records are always audit ready. Credentialing staff and Credentials Committee members were able to review files in advance of meetings, so they had time to study details, identify flags, and ask  questions. Prior to RLDatix, Credentials Committee meetings lasted four hours or more as members reviewed 60 - 70  files. With RLDatix, the same 60 - 70 files were reviewed in the initial 15 minutes of meeting, transforming the meeting to  an interdisciplinary committee focusing on policy issues, competency requirements, and privileges. While they initially  struggled to get the required quorum, the committee grew to 21 participants. 

GROWTH

In 2019, the organization announced the acquisition of four hospitals, with more acquisitions and new construction to  come. The Practitioner Management application plays an essential role in this new growth strategy by enabling them to integrate data and processes across all newly merged entities. While the new organizations have appropriate  credentialing procedures, they are generally all paper-based. The Medical Staff Affairs - Credentialing Manager has been charged with driving the credentialing process for the acquisitions while maintaining their existing credentialing  operations and is happy to have RLDatix as a partner in this process.

“One of the primary reasons I accepted my current position is because  of the RLDatix's Credentialing solution. I have seen firsthand how the solution has transformed our practitioner management program and I know the commitment RLDatix makes to its clients’ success, which is going to be an instrumental part of our acquisition strategy.”  - Medical Staff  Affairs - Credentialing Manager

RESULTS

RLDatix  enables this client to manage credentialing files for nearly 1,800 practitioners—both combined and  separate—within one system, which has increased efficiencies while maintaining quality across the enterprise and the easy-to-use digital tools have helped drive practitioner adoption. With RLDatix’s credentialing they have been able to: 

  • Shift the Credentials Committee to focus on policy issues, competency requirements, privileges,  and specialties  
  • Become an interdisciplinary committee with coveted membership 
  • Address questions and provide documentation before committee meetings, allowing for time to  actually evaluate file content and details 
  •  Standardize practitioner data and processes across all facilities, including telehealth
  • Ensure all files are up-to-date and survey ready 
  • Reassign internal resources to other strategic areas, such as peer review and qualit
  • Streamline the transition of new paper-based hospitals to digital processes 
  • Grant access to 162 users across departments, versus the initial 30, to share different elements of the practitioner file and break down silos 
  • Drive quick adoption of credentialing tools by newly acquired staff and practitioners
  • Take advantage of helpful tools such as privilege look-up on the intranet and the practitioner  affiliation verification tool 
  • Improve their overall onboarding process 
  • Meet the hard dates required of an academic organization, processing practitioners as facility and medical staff
  • Establish an extremely quick turnaround time, averaging 200 processed applications in spring  months in preparation for summer

Client Quotes

“Having a central repository for all provider information makes for a smoother, faster on-boarding process, and the digitization of processes requires fewer resources, which translates into significant cost savings.”  

“We needed a process that allows us to bring on the very best practitioners quickly, so as not to compromise patient care in the process.”  

“We’ve received great feedback from our newly acquired providers, saying they appreciate the ease of use and the ability to complete reappointment applications from anywhere, even on their phone. Even our telehealth providers have been very positive and quick to adopt the new digital tools.”

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