A Light-Hearted Peek into the World, Woes, and Wins of a Credentialing Lifer
Credentialing: A Day in the Life
New Mantra: Don’t Let the Little Things Fall Through the Donut Hole
After over a baker’s dozen years in the field (and yes, I’ve earned that many donuts), my most pressing questions today still revolve around:
“St., St, or Saint?”
“MD or ‘M.D.?”
“Do we want to use Address Line 2?” (Good grief, NO!)
“Who in the world is Melisa, and why does she have all the postal data?”
Why Are These Questions More Important Than What We’re Going to Do About Whatever New Standard The Joint Commission Is Currently Fixated On?
Because somebody higher than my pay grade decided we’re merging my Southern Region credentialing database with our Western Region’s database. Fewer databases mean less time duplicating data entry and one less place to run reports from. Can’t lie, it’s a good idea.
Yet, now it’s time to figure out the standards. I like ‘MD’, but their database has ‘M.D.’ “Figure it out before you merge,” I’m told, “so we don’t end up with dirty data.” Alright, alright. I agree with that too! Dirty data means time wasted cleaning reports—time that could be spent on quality credentialing. And quality credentialing protects patients.
‘Mastering’ and ‘Mapping’: Words I Thought Belonged to the IT Side of the Basement
I always thought ‘mastering’ and ‘mapping’ were terms that belonged to the IT side of the basement, not the Medical Staff side. (Why are so many MSPs housed in the basement anyway? Is it because Mama and Papa Bears are associated with cave-like dens? That’s my theory…) Now, those words are part of my daily life.
- Mastering tables so we have one golden record to rule them all! It feels like we’re on some epic quest where ‘St’ will be engraved on a ring for each data entry person to wear, so they never accidentally enter ‘Saint’.
- Mapping fields so when we import the Western Region’s data, ‘M.D.’ doesn’t end up in the date-of-birth field. “Uhm, I’m sorry Dr. Jones, but what era was ‘M.D.’ and can you tell me what moon-cycle you were born in?”
Do it right up front, and hopefully, it goes smoothly. Ha… Smoothly + med-staff-anything! We’re MSPs, so that’s pretty funny, but I’m going to trust in this one. “Don’t let the little things fall through the donut hole” is becoming my mantra.
We don’t rush credentialing, and we don’t rush data mergers. I’m not going to generate a report for the MEC in a few months only to find that every physician has ‘DNP’ listed as their medical education degree. Oh, I shudder to think of that reaction. The doctors may love their ARNPs, but they also earned their ‘MD’ and ‘DO’ degrees. And exactly which one of our lucky staff would get to clean up that hot data mess?
It’ll all work out. My eyes might be strained from rolling, I may be tired of explaining provider data to the IT and project management resources, and my Western Region cohorts and I might need a night out to discuss who gets the rights to certain table ownership—but it’s going to be a good thing in the end.
Oh, but seriously, whoever picked the project manager who doesn’t know the difference between a practicing degree and an education degree owes me way more than a donut.
Cassie is an expert in Master Data Management (MDM) and Provider Credentialing in Healthcare. She is the recipient of the 2018 HCPro Credentialing Resource Center Case Study Award for excellence in Medical Staff Professionals.
A dual-certified professional, Cassie brings over 16 years of experience in multi-state Medical Staff Credentialing, Payor Enrollment, and Master Data Management.
CASSIE KANA CARTER
CPMSM, CPCS
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