HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsTackle all the challenges of practitioner directory management within a health plan with a single solution tailored to your specific needs.
View All ProductsOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreThis blog post is based off of an Industry Insight Webinar: Disaster and Telehealth Privileging During the COVID-19 National Emergency.
When it comes to licensing and credentialing physicians and other healthcare professionals, there are clear guidelines, and most people involved like it that way. Now, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has upended everything in healthcare from basic services delivery to the credentialing and licensure process, says Vicki Searcy, Vice President, Consulting Services, at VerityStream.
“It’s hard for people that work in the credentialing profession,” Searcy adds. “A lot of us don't like gray areas. We like things to be very defined and we are in a time right now where we are in some gray areas.”
For instance, the very real issue of getting providers into the field, where their expertise is desperately needed to care for rising numbers of patients. Given the numbers needed, onboarding these providers quickly would be a heavy lift. It has been made somewhat easier by the ground-breaking changes that have come as result of the National Emergency declaration on March 13:
Certain requirements with regards to background checks and other kinds of requirements to vet providers to enroll them in Medicare also were waived. There are two types of these “blanket” waivers:
Provider Locations. CMS has waived requirements that out-of-state providers be licensed in the state where they are providing services when they are licensed in another state.
Enrollment in Medicare. CMS is allowing new non-certified Part B suppliers, physicians, and non-physician providers to expeditiously obtain temporary Medicare billing privileges. CMS is also waiving certain application fees, criminal background checks, and site visits with respect to provider enrollment.
One result of the COVID-19 pandemic is that well-known healthcare terminology is being readapted:
Licensure is someone's ability to be able to provide certain services, and the ability to grant that licensure is controlled by states.
Emergency privileges are privileges that are commonly defined in medical staff bylaws and are granted to an institution. There may be additional policies related to emergency privileges, and often provisions for emergency privileges are on a privilege form so that when a provider requests privileges, there is an acknowledgement that in case of emergency he or she can do whatever is needed to save the patient.
Disaster or temporary privileges are defined by the Joint Commission and are granted during some type of a declared disaster when an organization puts in place its emergency plans and can be granted to individuals.
Telehealth and telemedicine privileging, which are in a state of change now because states and the government are trying to make it easier for telemedicine privileges to be exercised.
“There are many concrete examples of what all this looks like, with more happening every day”, says Todd Sagin, President and National Medical Director, Sagin HealthCare Consulting.
“In Texas, the medical board has said that retired physicians, if they have not been retired for more than two years, can return immediately to active status during this disaster,” Sagin says. “On their website, they list the requirements and exemptions that they're going to make available to facilitate the return of retired physicians. They address out of state physicians and indicate they'll be allowed to obtain a limited emergency license which will last no more than 30 days unless they extend the authority. They have set up fast-tracking mechanisms to facilitate this, and they outline a variety of tools that they are going to require to make sure that these out-of-state physicians actually come with a degree of competence.”
Learn more about how VerityStream provides Credentialing, Privileging, Enrollment, and Evaluation for Health Systems and Health Plans.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsComprehensive, industry-leading provider onboarding and credentialing software that validate health outcomes and support provider assessment.
View All CredentialingOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
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