Credentialing is a cyclical process in need of constant monitoring, updating, and maintenance. If handled properly, providers are credentialed and recredentialed without ever experiencing a gap in patient care. Most companies have a valuable team member, or members, tasked with maintaining the certifications, records, background checks, licenses, and paperwork necessary for submitting a credentialing application. The credentialing position is vital to ensuring providers are properly enrolled and approved to deliver patient care. Without them, the credentialing process can result in errors, missed deadlines, or in extreme cases, liability risks. Even with consistent and hard-working employees, are you prepared for a worst-case staffing scenario which could disrupt your credentialing process?
Recently, a large Behavioral Health company located in the southern United States experienced such an unfortunate scenario. This company employs over 200 licensed Practitioners and contracts with more than 45 insurance companies, including Medicare and Medicaid. The company employed a tenured Credentialing Specialist who managed all aspects of their enrollments and assisted with contract updates and procurement. This beloved and dedicated employee retired abruptly on a Friday afternoon.
After the initial shock had waned, management needed to quickly regroup and figure out how to carry on her important job functions. This team member was very organized and maintained her credentialing details on multiple, complex spreadsheets and used local drive folders to capture the key documents for each provider. As the team started to review years of work, they realized that while the team member was very organized, she organized in a way that best suited her day-to-day process and making sense of this information was a very difficult task.
The reality of a credentialing disruption through staff emergencies or unexpected turnover is common and deserves consideration. What would your company do if your credentialing specialist position was left vacant and no one had the working knowledge to supplement the work or meet looming deadlines? The solution lies in upgrading the tools your employees use for your provider data management.
Like most providers, you probably maintain a robust spreadsheet with multiple tabs, color codes and line after line of data. While a seemingly convenient and cost-effective solution, your practice could face unnecessary problems or credentialing delays due to using outdated and tedious methods. To best optimize your system, consider investing in exydoc Provider Data Management platform to start utilizing a secure, web-based repository for all of your provider data. The Behavioral Health company mentioned earlier eventually began using exydoc in order to start a new credentialing process for their company. Through the exydoc platform, they successfully populated their existing data found in spreadsheets and documents housed in local drive folders.
If you’re interested in creating a secure, collaborative, and efficient credentialing process, consider contacting exydoc to discuss how the software solution can work for you. exydoc wants to offer your credentialing staff a software solution that replaces error-prone manual tasks with automation, efficiency, and improved processes for company-wide benefits and peace of mind.