Delegated credentialing for telehealth providers has become commonplace since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) relaxed the Medicare Conditions of Participation for hospitals more than 10 years ago. Delegated credentialing, or what’s sometimes referred to as “credentialing by proxy,” allows hospitals to rely on the credentialing and privileging decisions of a distant site hospital or telemedicine entity for providers who solely perform services at the hospital via telemedicine.
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To use delegated credentialing, the hospital must enter into a delegated credentialing agreement with the distant site hospital or telemedicine entity which meets certain criteria set out in the Medicare Conditions of Participation. Once approved by the hospital’s governing body, the telehealth providers receive privileges at the hospital based on the privileges granted by the distant site hospital or telemedicine entity.
Although delegated credentialing for telehealth providers can save hospitals significant time and resources, if it is not implemented correctly it can also create compliance issues. On the podcast this week, we discuss three common compliance issues in the use of delegated credentialing. Check out our sample delegated credentialing agreement here:
