FPPE

February 16, 2023

Posted on by Courtney Patterson

QUESTION:
Our bylaws say that new medical staff members are “provisional” for at least 12 months, sometimes for 24 months.  Is this the same thing as focused professional practice evaluation?

OUR ANSWER FROM HORTYSPRINGER ATTORNEY LEEANNE MITCHELL:
No – or at least it shouldn’t be!  Focused professional practice evaluation (“FPPE”) is the Joint Commission terminology for the period of focused review that is required for following the grant of any new clinical privileges as the way of confirming practitioner competence – this means a focused review of all privileges for new applicants and all new privileges for existing practitioners (i.e., increases in privileges).  FPPE can be accomplished in many different ways – chart review, proctoring/direct observation, external reviews, even discussions with others who are involved in the care of the individual’s patients.  The Joint Commission does not mandate the duration of FPPE for any practitioner and, in fact, have specifically noted in the past that using a traditional 12-month provisional period as the time frame for performing FPPE could be overly burdensome for practitioners who had high volumes.

To that end, there is no requirement that hospitals and medical staffs maintain a provisional appointment status, though we do still see many hospitals that continue to utilize that status, generally as a way to assess the “citizenship” aspects of medical staff appointment – like behavior, attendance at and participation in medical staff affairs, completion of medical records, fulfillment of call obligations, etc.  In addition, at the same time, but generally for a much shorter duration, all new members are subjected to FPPE, the requirements of which depend on the practitioner’s specialty and clinical privileges.  The key is to understand that if a medical staff is going to maintain a provisional status or process, it should be addressed separately from the FPPE to confirm competence process.

January 20, 2022

Posted on by jwilbert

QUESTION:

Our hospital has granted clinical privileges to practitioners who work primarily in outpatient facilities which are a part of the same health system as the hospital.  How do we conduct FPPE to confirm competence and OPPE for these practitioners when they have limited to no volume in the hospital, but the hospital wants them to retain their privileges in case it needs them to provide patient care services?

OUR ANSWER FROM HORTYSPRINGER ATTORNEY CHARLIE CHULACK:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, this is an important question because hospitals are scrambling for methods to cover the clinical needs of an influx of patients when there are community spikes in infections and hospitalizations.  Thus, they may want to have practitioners “at the ready” even though their primary practice location is not in a hospital.

Nonetheless, you do have some options when it comes to these “low volume practitioners.”  To use The Joint Commission terminology, for “focused professional practice evaluation” (or “FPPE”) to confirm competence and “ongoing professional practice evaluation” (or “OPPE”), the hospital can have the low volume practitioner provide one or more of the following types of information:  (1) information from their primary practice location, such as ongoing professional practice evaluation reports, a quality profile, and/or patient satisfaction surveys, (2) detailed reference requests from their primary practice location, (3) detailed peer evaluations from individuals who have directly observed or who are in a regular referral relationship with the practitioner, or (4) medical records of patients treated at the primary practice location so that the hospital may conduct an evaluation of the care provided.

If the low volume practitioner works almost exclusively in outpatient settings, the above information, if part of a general request, may not address their clinical skills in a hospital setting.  But, you can structure the requests so that the information received relates to the clinical privileges that the practitioner has in the hospital.  For example, while not completely analogous, if the primary practice location is an Urgent Care Center for a practitioner seeking or granted clinical privileges in emergency medicine, the information requested could target the performance of histories and physicals, the ordering and interpretation of diagnostic studies, the administration of medications, and the requesting of consultations/making of appropriate referrals.

For those hospitals that are accredited by The Joint Commission, keep in mind the FAQ issued on March 4, 2021, which provides as follows:  “When practitioner activity at the ‘local’ level is low or limited, supplemental data may be used from another CMS-certified organization where the practitioner holds the same privileges.  The use of supplemental data may NOT be used in lieu of a process to capture local data.”  Thus, The Joint Commission requires that at least some of the data used to confirm competence come from the hospital conducting the evaluation.  The Joint Commission gives hospitals significant flexibility in the type of information collected by the hospital for professional practice evaluation, so you can be creative.

We should mention that for health systems that have outpatient locations operating as departments of the hospital (i.e., as provider-based outpatient departments), then any FPPE or OPPE that was completed in that outpatient setting would be viewed as having occurred “in the hospital.”  In this case, The Joint Commission requirements would be satisfied based on what was done in the outpatient setting.

Another tool to deal with low volume practitioners is to grant an exception that permits them to remain subject to FPPE to confirm competence for the duration of the Practitioner’s appointment term for some or all clinical privileges.  This option may be used because of community need, coverage requirements, the rare nature of a given procedure or treatment, or other relevant factors.  We believe this is a reasonable interpretation of the relevant standards based on the needs of hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

October 21, 2021

Posted on by Courtney Patterson

QUESTION:
We are trying to implement care guidelines for hip and knee replacements across the system.  The leadership has agreed on the guidelines generally and is now discussing implementation and enforcement.  They want to monitor the established metrics through the OPPE process and, if a practitioner is outside the metrics, have them automatically referred for FPPE (the matter would be referred to the Medical Staff peer review committee for further review and a determination of what collegial measures, if any, could be taken to get the practitioner into compliance).  If the practitioner remains outside the metrics cutoff after 90 days, the leadership has recommended that the practitioner’s joint replacement privileges be deemed automatically relinquished for failure to comply.  This method of enforcement does seem a whole lot easier than conducting an investigation and going through all of the procedures that are necessary to revoke privileges.  What do you think?

ANSWER:
While it is true that implementing an automatic relinquishment is easier than conducting an investigation, making an adverse professional review recommendation, and/or conducting a hearing and appeal process, not every situation is well suited to automatic relinquishment.

The situations where automatic relinquishment is most appropriate are those that are objectively assessed, require little to no evaluation of the practitioner’s competence or conduct, and tend to be focused on administrative requirements.  For example, failure to comply with documentation requirements, failure to attend a meeting when requested by the Medical Staff leadership, or loss of licensure are all matters that routinely lead to automatic relinquishment within hospitals/medical staffs all across the country.

There are some situations where failure to follow a protocol or guideline could appropriately lead to implementation of automatic relinquishment.  For example, consider the scenario where a hospital and medical staff establish a clinical protocol requiring a practitioner to either comply with the protocol or, alternatively, document contemporaneously in the file the reason why he or she is not following the protocol.  Automatic relinquishment of privileges for failure to comply with the administrative requirement of documenting the reasons for non-compliance would be acceptable, since the evaluation of the matter would be objective (e.g. did the practitioner comply?  If not, was there documentation of why in the chart?).  Further, the relinquishment would be related to an administrative matter (failure to comply with a documentation requirement applicable when not complying with a protocol).

However, if the practitioner were being reviewed because, although he or she was documenting the reasons for not following the protocol, the Medical Staff leadership felt those reasons were not good – that would be a different matter.  That would involve evaluation of the practitioner’s clinical judgment (e.g., the explanations for why the protocol was not followed), which would require subjective evaluation, clinical expertise, and a judgment about the practitioner’s clinical competence and/or conduct. Because of that, the consideration of whether the practitioner was justified in not following the protocol would better lend itself to review under the Medical Staff professional practice evaluation process (which is specifically designed to evaluate performance issues utilizing the expertise of the Medical Staff leaders and, afterwards, implement collegial solutions to help practitioners improve).

The situation you describe sounds like it may be more akin to the latter situation described above, in which case automatic relinquishment would not be the best solution.  It’s true that words like “guidelines” and “metrics” give the initial impression that a matter is being objectively evaluated – and that can lead many to believe that automatic relinquishment is a viable option for all situations involving failure to comply.  Our suggestion is to focus more on the actual metrics that are under consideration.  Is non-compliance with those metrics measured objectively, without the need to consider the explanation of the practitioner (e.g. H&P was on the chart prior to surgery, surgical note was on the chart prior to surgeon leaving the OR)?  If the metrics are “administrative” in nature, like these, then automatic relinquishment may be the right enforcement method.

But, if non-compliance with metrics is measured objectively at first –and then requires subjective evaluation to verify whether non-compliance was justified (e.g. patient was an appropriate candidate for the procedure, diagnostic tests were appropriate, appropriate medications were given), then review through the peer review process may be a better option than resorting to automatic relinquishment.  In your scenario, since the original plan is to refer matters of non-compliance into the FPPE process, it sounds like your guidelines may require subjective evaluation and be less “administrative” and, in turn, less suited to automatic relinquishment.

Of course, as always, the best option is to consult with your in-house or Medical Staff counsel, as the best answer depends on the specific protocols/guidelines you are looking to implement and enforce, as well as the language of your Medical Staff Bylaws and related governance documents.

January 10, 2019

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        A brand new member of our Credentials Committee, who is opposed to a request from a physician in a different specialty to apply for a privilege to perform a procedure that member performs himself, has been lobbying other committee members to deny the request and has asked that the request first be referred to his department for a vote.  A written application has not been submitted. The potential applicant did not have residency training in this procedure but, rather, took a short course conducted by an equipment vendor.  The physician requesting the privilege has threatened a lawsuit on antitrust grounds, because he has learned about the lobbying.  How can we manage this situation?

ANSWER:            If your Bylaws or Credentials Policy does not have a section on how to manage requests for privileges that cross specialty lines, consider deferring consideration until such language is adopted and implemented.  It is a best practice to have the Credentials Committee develop eligibility criteria before processing requests (both for new privileges and for practitioners seeking privileges in different specialties).  If current criteria refer to residency training in one specialty, the committee can review possible alternate pathways.  Any physician, including the potential applicant, can submit proposed criteria for education, training and experience.  The committee should also consider how FPPE would work, indications for the procedure, and how call coverage and complications would be handled. How much training is sufficient to demonstrate competence?   A survey of other hospitals would be a helpful step to demonstrate objectivity. Also, a Credentials Committee member who is in an affected specialty has a conflict of interest and should be recused from the process (but he can submit proposed criteria).  It is best if recusal is discussed with the affected member in advance of the meeting. The minutes should reflect that he left the room before final deliberation and vote on the criteria. A conflict of interest should not be viewed as a judgment on the individual’s character but, rather, as a step to protect the integrity of the process.  And, departments should not vote on criteria or specific requests; that is too easily challenged as a conspiracy in restraint of trade. The applicant’s request should not be processed until either new eligibility criteria are adopted by the Credentials Committee, MEC (and Board), or the current criteria are confirmed. A determination of ineligibility is not a “denial.”  (If the Credentials Committee and MEC recommend, and the Board determines to adopt, eligibility criteria with an alternate pathway that would enable this request to be processed, the interested committee member should also recuse himself from the consideration of the application.)

For more information, be sure to join Ian Donaldson and Barbara Blackmond for The Complete Course for Medical Staff Leaders!  You may want to send the new Credentials Committee member to the Complete Course if he has little leadership experience or to our Credentialing for Excellence program if he is otherwise experienced but lacking depth in credentialing!

June 21, 2018

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        A physician who has been on our staff for only a few months has been experiencing complications, with several cases falling out.  So, as part of the initial FPPE, I (as the new Service Line Chief) called this physician into a collegial intervention meeting. He showed up with the head of his group practice, who is not a member of any medical staff committees. When I said that the meeting was a confidential peer review meeting, both physicians left. Now what? Was I right or did I miss an opportunity?

ANSWER:            You are correct that collegial intervention meetings are confidential and that individuals who are not members of an authorized peer review committee should generally not be present. All medical staff members have an obligation to work constructively and cooperatively in the peer review process. This should be covered in new physician orientation, as well as in a statement of expectations that is provided to applicants (and also sent along with the letter of appointment, to be signed by the newly appointed physician).

However, a new medical staff member, especially one who is right out of training, may not be aware of or understand the requirements for Focused Professional Practice Evaluation for all new privileges and may be fearful that collegial intervention is actually a disciplinary step. That’s why it’s important for leaders to emphasize the nature of collegial intervention and performance improvement. Of course, leaders engaging in collegial intervention must be authorized by a peer review committee structured in a manner to fall within the protections of the applicable state peer review law.

There may be times when participation of a respected physician mentor who could serve as moral support for a new physician might make sense, with certain safeguards. You could consider telling the new staff member that he may be accompanied by the head of his group, so long as the head of the group signs a peer review confidentiality agreement. Some state peer review laws explicitly cover group practices as well as hospital medical staff committees; and, in some health systems, information sharing policies encompass affiliated group practices.  This would offer added protection.  (You may also want to be accompanied by another authorized leader, perhaps a vice chief or chair of the peer review committee.)

The purpose of a collegial intervention meeting is to emphasize that the medical staff leadership strives to help all physicians be successful so long as they are willing and able to do what it takes. Leaders may need to remind the head of the group of the expectations for all members, and educate the head of the group who may have had no leadership experience, about the peer review process and the applicable regulatory and accreditation standards.  If both are willing to participate constructively, this approach may help de-escalate the situation.

Join us for The Complete Course for Medical Staff Leaders in San Francisco, as we help new leaders understand their roles and prepare for success.

April 19, 2018

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        Our hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission.  When we perform FPPE to confirm competence for new Medical Staff members, we typically evaluate the physician’s first five cases.  We’ve recently heard rumblings that this may no longer be acceptable.  What’s up?

 

ANSWER:            Based on recent reports from hospitals, it appears that Joint Commission surveyors are requiring hospitals to be more rigorous in how they perform FPPE to confirm competence.

The point of FPPE for new physicians is to confirm that a physician who looks good on paper (via the credentialing process) looks just as good in actual practice.  FPPE can have the added benefit of helping new physicians become familiar with the hospital (e.g., through conversations with proctors about standard operating procedures, etc.).

Evaluating a physician’s first five cases may not give the hospital a realistic view of the physician’s practice.  For example, if the physician is a general surgeon and those first five cases are all appendectomies, the hospital would have no confirmation of how well the physician performs other, unrelated procedures.

Fortunately, groups of privileges may require similar skills and judgment.  Thus, the evaluation of a practitioner’s ability to exercise one privilege may be used to confirm a practitioner’s ability to perform one or more other privileges.  These are sometimes referred to as “Index Privileges.”

Thus, while FPPE to confirm competence should generally include more than a physician’s first five cases, there’s no need to individually evaluate every privilege a physician has been granted.  Instead, hospitals can identify groups of privileges that require similar skills, and use those groupings to help them confirm that a physician is competent to perform all the privileges that have been granted.