Admitting Privileges

[fedor]

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If a radiologist wanted to provide nighthawk reads (evenings and weekends) would he have to secure admitting privileges for all the hospitals which would be sending him scans?

 

[Docxter]

If a radiologist wanted to provide nighthawk reads (evenings and weekends) would he have to secure admitting privileges for all the hospitals which would be sending him scans?

Working priviledges are different from admitting priviledges. Only radiologists that do invasive procedures usually request admitting priviledges. But yes, most hospitals will require getting priviledges for doing teleradiology work.

 

[fedor]

Working priviledges are different from admitting priviledges. Only radiologists that do invasive procedures usually request admitting priviledges. But yes, most hospitals will require getting priviledges for doing teleradiology work.

Is obtaining working privileges any easier than obtaining admitting privileges? From what I have heard obtaining admitting privileges is somewhat of a hassle both with the delay to be approved and also with the costs of applying.

Also, along with obtaining privileges at a hospital normally come obligations (call, etc). Would those be waived for a radiologist just seeking working privileges for evening or weekend reads?

 

[f_w]

Hospitals have different levels of priviledges, sometimes depending on specialty.


If you are a subspecialty surgeon who only occasionally comes in to cooperate on the care of a patient (e.g. a plastic surgeon to participate in oncologic ortho cases), you might only have 'consulting' priviledges without admitting rights. Some of these 'lower' levels of priviledges don't come with obligations such as serving on committees or call coverage (but also without the typical rights such as voting or dismissal process rights).

The paperwork hassle is pretty much the same, independent from the level of priviledges sought. They will allways check with your prior hospitals, verify your training and check on your claims history.

 

[fedor]

The paperwork hassle is pretty much the same, independent from the level of priviledges sought. They will allways check with your prior hospitals, verify your training and check on your claims history.

Thus am I right in assuming that if one wants to telerad, a great deal of foresight is required because the application process for working privileges takes anywhere from 2 to 6 months?

 

[f_w]

The bigger telerad companies have a whole department that does nothing but filling out 'medical staff applications' and assembling packages for the rads to sign. Every week the rads get another stack of forms to sign (and every medical staff association has its own form, no standardization here). It does take months of run up to be able to start doing telerad. You also need dozends of medical licenses which is another paperwork nightmare in and by itself.