It’s no secret that providers hate paperwork. But, in the case of credentialing, there’s no avoiding it. Credentialing protects the patient by verifying that a provider has the appropriate education and experience. If you are prepared you can expedite the process. Wapiti Medical Staffing credentialing specialist, Christy Pullin, has a few suggestions on how you can help move things along.
References
Facilities will want the addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mails of references so they can reach out to them promptly. It’s best to include references that can attest to your skills within the past 1-2 years. Physicians must use MDs or DOs as references, NPs or PAs will not be accepted. Be sure to include the year and month when referencing dates of education or employment.
Emergency medicine requirements
If you are working in emergency medicine, most facilities will require BLS (Basic Life Support), ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support, ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support, and PALS( Pediatric Advanced Life Support. While not all facilities will mandate these certifications, ATLS and ACLS are the most common. The certificate requirements change depending on the facility and your specialty. ATLS is a requirement for physicians and Advanced Practitioners working in emergency medicine in the Midwest. In some states, CALS (Comprehensive Advanced Life Support) is used as a replacement.
Malpractice
Medical malpractice is when a healthcare professional causes harm to a patient. This can be the result of negligence or incompetence. Some of the most common examples of malpractice include surgical and prescription drug errors and misdiagnoses. Facilities need to be aware of any claims against a provider.
Certificates of Insurance (COI) will contain malpractice information. It is a good idea to keep all COIs for at least ten years. Most facilities will only go back five years, but some may go back ten years if you have ever had a malpractice claim. Recent graduates should list residency malpractice coverage plus other post-graduate malpractice coverage information.
Continuing medical education
Continuing medical education helps providers stay current on advances and developments in their field and maintain professional competency. Facilities will request CMEs from the past two years. Using an online tracker is the best way to stay on top of this information. You can send all your CME certificates or, better yet, your transcript. New graduates are not required to provide CMEs until two years post-grad.
When you work with Wapiti Medical Staffing, we will prefill your application provided we have your information. In addition, we are happy to send a clean, typed application so you can keep track of things yourself. We understand that keeping track of credentials is time-consuming and difficult and we have credentialing specialists who will be happy to walk you through the process, step by step so you don’t have to worry.
Contact us today to get the ball rolling.