Hospitals are doing little to assuage patients’ growing concerns about safety by their lax credentialing requirements for pediatricians, according to a study by University of Michigan researchers published in the February 22 issue of JAMA. In a survey of 159 hospitals, 78% did not require general pediatricians to be certified to receive privileges. Although 70% of hospitals required pediatricians to eventually get certified, only 45% set a deadline for certification, and 69% allowed pediatricians to keep their privileges even after the certification deadline had passed. It was a similar picture for pediatric subspecialists, with only 43% of hospitals requiring the subspecialists to obtain subspecialty certification by a specified time. In a separate study, the researchers also found that 90% of health plans did not require pediatricians to be credentialed initially with only 41% setting a time limit for credentialing. As the public and regulatory agencies push for greater quality and safety in healthcare, hospitals will have to address their credentialing standards for primary-care physicians, say the researchers.
