The names Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia shaped countless childhoods through multiple generations, but what lessons can the healthcare industry learn from some of their famous phrases?
In the spirit of the film, we’ve taken a look back on some of the most memorable Star Wars quotes, the lessons our heroes learned, and how they apply to the common problem of noncompliance in provider credentialing. We hope their mistakes can help organizations turn processes into the Millennium Falcon of credentialing workflows.
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” – Opening credits
Like the Jedi Order, credentialing physicians is an age-old practice. In 1000 B.C., one of the earliest physician credentialing practices was performed by the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism. Their requirements called for a doctor to cure three heretics successfully prior to receiving their license. Credentialing practice has come a long way in the last 3,000 years and has grown increasingly more complicated.
The Jedis study their own history to learn from their mistakes and understand what they need to do differently to avoid the same problems in the future. We suggest that the first step in cleaning up your credentialing process is to look backwards. Review your previous credentialing processes: What worked? What led to errors? Why?
If you can learn from previous mistakes, you’re already making progress toward creating a top-notch credentialing process.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” – Almost every character in almost every episode
This quote prefaced multiple battle scenes throughout the six episodes. The characters felt that something was wrong and they were always correct. One of the Jedis’ greatest strengths is their intuition and ability to recognize when there is a disturbance in the Force. When they listen to that intuition, they become almost unbeatable. Thus, we suggest you listen to your gut feelings as well when considering your organization’s credentialing process.
Credentialing is a confusing landscape with countless regulations, so when you feel like something is wrong (that there is a disturbance in the Force), speak up. By acknowledging that you have a bad feeling, your credentialing team will help you identify the source of the trouble and find a solution. Had the Star Wars characters listened to their gut more, they might not have found themselves in so many treacherous situations.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” –Yoda
You’re on track to cleaning up your credentialing process if by this point you’ve looked to the past to learn from previous mistakes and spoken up if something in your credentialing process doesn’t feel right. The next thing we suggest is refreshing your knowledge of your credentialing requirements.
We always try to follow the teachings of Master Yoda. After all, he is the best Jedi master. His famous quote describes credentialing requirements perfectly – you’re either completely compliant with TJC or NCQA, or you’re not. One of the most common mistakes we see healthcare organizations make is to neglect their providers between credentialing cycles. These organizations complete the initial credentialing of their providers, but then don’t check on them until it’s time for recredentialing. The NCQA requires monthly monitoring of expirables and sanctions. Institutions may not be performing ongoing monitoring because of budget cutbacks or confusing regulations, or simply because they don’t have the necessary staff. Regardless of the reason, if your organization is not monitoring your providers, you are not compliant.
Listen to Master Yoda and be compliant. Make sure you understand the regulations. Refresh your understanding of the NCQA and TJC credentialing requirements, so that your mission is clear. Look at what you’re currently doing and where you might be falling short. When you start understanding the bottlenecks in your process, you can start to find specific solutions.
“It’s not my fault.” – Han Solo
If you’ve done everything in your power to clean up your credentialing workflow, problems may still exist. Much like when the Millennium Falcon won’t jump into lightspeed, many things can go wrong in the credentialing department that prevent operations from running at optimal quality and speed. Long turnaround times and credentialing backlogs can be caused by budget constraints, underinvestment in the right technology or high turnover.
Unfortunately, you don’t have R2-D2 running around the credentialing department to fix the problems, but there are services that offer easy-to-use, cutting-edge technology that streamlines and automates the credentialing process. Read a customer success story here.
“Somebody has to save our skins.” – Leia Organa
Leia knew she couldn’t do it alone, so when push came to shove, she wasn’t afraid to ask for help. Call on the knowledge of your high-tech friends to help you find a way out of the trash compactor…um…out of your credentialing problems. There is no reason to face complex credentialing issues alone. Finding a team of credentialing experts and software engineers can help to provide solutions to today’s toughest credentialing problems.
“In my experience there is no such thing as luck.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi
In 2016, don’t count on luck, count on technology and data…and the Force. Establishing and running an efficient, effective and compliant credentialing process is not a matter of luck. It just takes planning, consistency and the right technology.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker’s Hospital Review/Becker’s Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
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