Credentialing for physicians with gaps in clinical practice

[undalay]

I know physician anesthesiologist who is having a hard time getting privileges because they stopped practicing for a few months. My friend is close to / in retirement. When he was working his last Locum job, the elective cases got canceled because of COVID. The only reason the hospital needed him was for labor epidural and csec. This went on for several months in 2020 and early 2021. The hospital then hired a new anesthesia group and my friend was offered a full time job in that group. He did not take the full time job. Several months passed and now he wants to come back and work.

One of the hospitals wants A certain minimum number of cases in last 24 months in order to credential. There are no other issues. Any suggestions

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[DrZzZz]

Any suggestions

Yea, stop using the phrase "physician anesthesiologist".

But to your actual question, no. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[chessknt]

There is nothing to suggest. This person needs to talk to the credential of committee if they are not able to meet the requirements and figure out an alternative pathway or find a different job.

 

[BLADEMDA]

Surgicenters are usually much more lax about credentials. Why not do some cases there then re-apply for hospital privileges?

 

[Beeftenderloin]

I know physician anesthesiologist who is having a hard time getting privileges because they stopped practicing for a few months. My friend is close to / in retirement. When he was working his last Locum job, the elective cases got canceled because of COVID. The only reason the hospital needed him was for labor epidural and csec. This went on for several months in 2020 and early 2021. The hospital then hired a new anesthesia group and my friend was offered a full time job in that group. He did not take the full time job. Several months passed and now he wants to come back and work.

One of the hospitals wants A certain minimum number of cases in last 24 months in order to credential. There are no other issues. Any suggestions

No need to say “physician anesthesiologist.” To say they are an anesthesiologist already implies that they are in fact a physician.

 

[Blockit]

What Blade said. If you are close to retirement why would you want to go back to a HOSPITAL anyway?

 

[caligas]

2 months should not be an obstacle but who knows what their criteria say.

Maybe do locums for a short while somewhere, so that he is considered “active?”

 

[kidthor]

Often if you don’t meet the case volume/type requirement you can proctor through some cases and check the box that way. And yes, this is a stupid box checking exercise for your friend who’s clearly adequately experienced.

Meanwhile you’ve got midlevels effectively running an ICU with the experience level of having seen part of Grey’s Anatomy once.

 

[BLADEMDA]

Like I posted earlier the OP can advise the person to find locums work at a surgicenter for a short period of time, or maybe an academic place has a need for some help? I would think if the person's hourly rate is fairly low there would be interest in his/her services.

 

[caligas]

What is the minimal time gap that usually has to be explained to credentialing committee?

I would have thought 3 -6 months

 

[IMGASMD]

What is the minimal time gap that usually has to be explained to credentialing committee?

I would have thought 3 -6 months

Depends if you have any anesthesiologists sitting on the committee…..

 

[kidthor]

Depends if you have any anesthesiologists sitting on the committee…..

I just re-credentialed somewhere and they wanted an explanation for ONE month.

 

[caligas]

I just re-credentialed somewhere and they wanted an explanation for ONE month.

Uh, it’s called vacation?! 😄

 

[kidthor]

Uh, it’s called vacation?! 😄

Agreed!

 

[sevoflurane]

I know physician anesthesiologist who is having a hard time getting privileges because they stopped practicing for a few months. My friend is close to / in retirement. When he was working his last Locum job, the elective cases got canceled because of COVID. The only reason the hospital needed him was for labor epidural and csec. This went on for several months in 2020 and early 2021. The hospital then hired a new anesthesia group and my friend was offered a full time job in that group. He did not take the full time job. Several months passed and now he wants to come back and work.

One of the hospitals wants A certain minimum number of cases in last 24 months in order to credential. There are no other issues. Any suggestions

Shouldn’t be a big deal.
One of my partners just took off a year and is currently sailing his catamaran around the world w/ his family.

 

[sevoflurane]

^ lucky sob

 

[pgg]

What we do in the .mil when someone has been out of practice for a while, is just put them on a plan of supervision for a short time.

I'm not sure if there's a hard rule or standard we follow, but from what I've observed, if it's been a really long time (many months or a year+) then we assign a staff member to watch them do some cases, then roll them into a period of chart review, then they get lumped in with the rest of the ongoing peer review process. The last time I saw this it was 10 directly observed cases.

We commonly have people do few or no cases for many months. Most deployments in the Navy are ~7 months plus some pre-deployment workups that take people away from clinical work. Not uncommon for people to sit in a Role 2 / forward surgical team somewhere staring at the walls, maybe doing a handful of cases the whole time.

Occasionally we have people get put in administrative jobs for 2 or 3 year tours where they might be <10% clinical. There are some who take that path never intending to return to clinical practice, but some do. It doesn't always go smoothly, but credentialing isn't the issue. We have the luxury of being able to assign staff to do the plan of supervision thing though.

In the end I guess it depends on how bad the group/hospital needs you and how much effort they're willing to put into getting you the opportunity.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

I know physician anesthesiologist who is having a hard time getting privileges because they stopped practicing for a few months. My friend is close to / in retirement. When he was working his last Locum job, the elective cases got canceled because of COVID. The only reason the hospital needed him was for labor epidural and csec. This went on for several months in 2020 and early 2021. The hospital then hired a new anesthesia group and my friend was offered a full time job in that group. He did not take the full time job. Several months passed and now he wants to come back and work.

One of the hospitals wants A certain minimum number of cases in last 24 months in order to credential. There are no other issues. Any suggestions

Has your "friend" asked the hospital what the requirements are?

 

[IkeBoy18]

Well I practice all pain. For the last two years. I guess I'm essentially unemployable if I went back to anesthesia.

 

[IMGASMD]

Well I practice all pain. For the last two years. I guess I'm essentially unemployable if I went back to anesthesia.

Not sure if you’re joking or being serious. But we had a pain specialist who came from a big institution in residency. He was terrible to be with….. after only a few months, he was on a lot of surgeons **** list.

Just like everything else, you don’t use it, you lose it. Let’s just say, if I was needing a emergency or trauma surgery, you nor him would be my first choice as my anesthesiologist.