01/27/2023    Randy Anderson, DPM

Hospital Requirements for Board Certification (Robert Scott Steinberg, DPM)

Actually, the avoidance of protectionism and
allowing increased access to privileges are the
reasons behind the requirement/opportunity for the
applicant to show that an alternate certifying body
is equivalent to the accepted certifying body.

Given your experience on a credential committee I
am sure you are aware there are certifying bodies
for a multitude of activities beyond surgical
specialties. For each of these there was an initial
organization that developed specific standards that
had to be met in order to achieve certification and
generally speaking that initial body is the
standard for comparison.

An organization such as a hospital staff can and
does set minimum requirements that a potential
applicant must have to request privileges at that
hospital and must maintain to be eligible for re-
credentialing. These requirements are applied
across the entire medical staff regardless of their
professional degree. Current board certification is
often one of these requirements.

Unfortunately, not all certifying bodies are equal.
In the case of podiatric surgical boards, the
specific standards we would look for are case logs
with diversification of procedures required, is
there a written and oral examination required, is
re-certification or ongoing verification required.
Since it is the physician requesting privileges,
that individual should have ready access to the
board they have chosen and be able to easily get
the standards and processes the board uses to
evaluate its candidates.

It is absolutely the applicant's responsibility to
gather and provide this information. Members of
the credential committee have neither the time nor
inclination to gather required data for applicants.
Additionally, if the applicant is the one gathering
the information, they have a vested interest to
make sure it is done in a timely manner and is
accurate. If only a single certifying board was
accepted that would be protectionism and limit
providers’ options.

Beyond holding the required certification an
initial applicant and providers being re-
credentialed must show "current competence" for the
privileges being requested that the credential
committee and eventually the department chair uses
to evaluate the experience and qualification.

As far as "be kind" over the more than 25 years, I
have been involved in medical staff leadership I
have been amazed at the devious behavior of
physicians, (podiatric, allopathic, osteopathic)
and even midlevel providers have used to try and
obtain and keep privileges at the hospitals I work
in. The responsibility of the credentialing process
is to set specific standards for the medical staff
and then apply them across all specialties. My
personal opinion (which by the way I personally
feel board certification as a requirement for
privileges is asinine) is not relevant.

I will recommend the book "Blind Eye" by James B.
Stewart if anyone wonders why credentialing
physicians in healthcare is critically important.

Cheers and thank you for the opportunity to expand
the discussion.

Randy Anderson, DPM, Mount Vernon, WA

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