We are in the midst of a national emergency – the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve been working in credentialing and privileging for over 30 years and, aside from being peripherally involved with healthcare emergencies due to 9/11, tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters, I’ve never been personally impacted up until now. We are truly all in this together.
As I see the news and what is happening in our healthcare organizations that are on the front lines or preparing for the worst, my heart goes out to those who are sick and those who are caring for the sick. Those of you who are on the front lines are today’s heroes - the EMTs and first responders, the physicians, the nurses and NPs, the PAs, the people who work in housekeeping – everyone who is contributing to patient care now, are all in our prayers as you function courageously day after day and risk your health to care for others. Thank you from the depths of our hearts.
And we have said it before – and we know it is true. Medical Services Professionals (MSPs) are the gatekeepers of patient safety for healthcare organizations. MSPs work every day to manage and support the credentialing and privileging processes at their organizations, knowing that patient safety is compromised when processes that enable excellent credentialing and privileging are not in place. And MPSs are rising to the occasion to put in place disaster credentialing procedures to help assure that patients receive care from qualified and competent providers. As the healthcare workforce is overwhelmed with the surge of patients in many locations, the work of the medical staff office/credentialing department goes on – checking licensure, identity, and other factors possible to verify during a disaster – so that providers can be authorized to provide badly needed services to patients.
All of us at VerityStream are proud to be in the healthcare industry and to partner with MSPs and other healthcare organization leaders to provide the tools that are needed to streamline credentialing, privileging and enrollment activities.
God bless all of you as we experience together what we have never experienced before. We are sad, scared and overwhelmed at times – but we will get through this together.
Thank you for the work that all of you do to keep patients safe.