Dr. Hoppa specializes in medical staff operations, bylaws and peer review consulting, as well as Joint Commission accreditation and CMS compliance services. Prior to joining The Greeley Company, Dr. Hoppa practiced as a family physician for 15 years. She held a number of physician leadership positions, including serving as CMO at MethodistHospital in Merrillville, Ind., and as a member of the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners.
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Question: What kinds of problems do outdated medical staff bylaws cause in healthcare organizations?
Mary Hoppa: When medical staff bylaws are outdated, medical staff may not have the ability to quickly respond to new challenges. This if often because their bylaws involve outmoded and laborious amendment processes.
Outdated bylaws also generally fail to take into account other vital practitioners, such as advanced practice professionals, primary care practitioners who may no longer come into the hospital or practitioners providing services in provider-based clinics.
If the bylaws haven’t been reviewed and updated as a cohesive document, they may contain conflicting documents, as some are revised and others are not. There can also be conflicts between the bylaws and newer practices recently implemented without updating the bylaws to reflect these practices.
Q: What are some of the benefits and challenges to redesigning your medical staff bylaws?
MH: One challenge is to overcome physician fear that the redesign process will be lengthy, boring and not worth the time spent – which is incorrect. Many medical staff members lack knowledge of the full spectrum of possibilities available for those items in the bylaws that can be customized.
You also might have to overcome the “we’ve had these bylaws forever and they have worked for us, so why change them now?!” sentiment. You can address this challenge by educating medical staff as to how healthcare is changing and why it’s in their best interest to update bylaws to respond to today’s challenges.
A few benefits of updating medical staff bylaws include improving clarity on how to address problems and producing more nimble bylaws.
Q: Can you recommend tips or best practices for organization’s considering overhauling their MS bylaws?
MH: First, an organization must decide if it has the appropriate knowledge and time to overhaul the bylaws itself. If not, it may reach out to a reputable organization to assist with bylaws review.
The review process should include a wide variety of leaders and influential members of the medical staff who can vet the issues before proposing a final version for approval by the medical staff.
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