Simplifying the vendor credentialing maze

Edition: September 2008 - Vol 16 Number 09
Article#: 3004
Author: M. Sandler

Hospital vendor credentialing requirements are increasingly impacting distributor sales reps and delivery personnel as healthcare providers focus on safety and risk management.

Hospitals rely on a range of requirements to ensure that vendors and representatives who enter healthcare sites follow steps to protect patient and hospital safety and security. These requirements are meant to ensure that vendors - especially those with access to patient care areas and/or those who assist providers in the provision of care - can (1) be tracked and (2) have adequate skills, training, and background screening.

However, given the wide range of vendors, service personnel, delivery companies, clients, patients, and members of the public that enter most hospitals, determining the appropriate scope, cost, and reach of such requirements can be challenging.

Once the primary domain of sales reps who were granted access to the most sensitive patient areas in a facility, the push for vendor credentialing is now having a ripple-effect throughout the diverse supplier community.

As things stand, the move toward widespread credentialing is poised to impact even those who need minimal, if any, access to patient care areas.

Both the Joint Commission, which is exploring the development of an official credentialing standard, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have provided some guidance in structuring credentialing programs. As vendor credentialing proliferates, HIDA is working closely with industry stakeholder groups to communicate distributors' concerns and clarify their role in the hospital setting. HIDA is working with the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Healthcare Manufacturers Management Council (HMMC), the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association (HIGPA), and others to ensure close collaboration and industry cooperation.

"One of our key goals is to clarify the unique role of the medical products distributor in the hospital setting," said Andrew E. Van Ostrand, HIDA's vice president of policy and research.

"If vendor credentialing is going to be effective, the requirements must recognize the very different ways a wide range of vendors interact with patients, providers, and the hospital - all vendors are not created equal."

Setting a standard

Most members of the supplier community agree that vendors - especially those who assist with procedures and have regular access to patient areas - should be required to provide some level of credentials. What remains to be seen is how the requirements will apply to a diverse and changing vendor/sales representative community.

With a growing number of for-profit companies, hospitals, and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) developing vendor credentialing requirements, complying with the standards can be confusing, costly and duplicative.

The verification process, and the information that is being verified and/or required, can vary widely from state to state, hospital to hospital, and company to company.

"New credentialing companies, new requirements, new agreements between hospitals and individual credentialing companies, and new partnerships between GPOs and credentialing companies, have created a crowded and complex landscape. Compliance can be costly and onerous," said Van Ostrand.

HIDA is working to clarify what credentials should be required for vendors based on the service they provide and their level of interaction with patients and providers. Van Ostrand added, "A distributor rep who's meeting with someone in materials management shouldn't require the same credentials as a sales rep assisting a physician in a surgical suite - applying credentials in such a fashion may be driving costs up with little benefit to patients or hospital safety."

The cost of credentialing

With each individual hospital and/or credentialing company setting its own requirements and fees, the financial implications associated with compliance are another concern for distributor and manufacturing companies.

The cost of credentialing a single rep can be as high as $500 per year. Distributor companies with robust sales forces and wide geographic reach could spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to pass each of their representatives through the process - even if none of those representatives ever enter a patient care area or assist physicians in the provision of care.

A single sales rep may need multiple credentials, depending on the hospitals they serve, and this can also cause costs to multiply quickly.

"Something needs to be done to shed light on the costs that are being incurred to comply with these varying and potentially duplicative and misaligned standards," said Van Ostrand. "The healthcare supply chain cannot afford to absorb the costs of inefficient or ineffective requirements - credentialing must be done in a deliberate and informed manner."

To learn more about vendor credentialing and HIDA's efforts, contact HIDA's Government Affairs department at (703) 549-4432 or visit www.HIDA.org.



Vendor credentialing criteria sales reps may need to meet and/or supply:

Criminal background checks

Checks for vaccination history

Checks to see if the sales rep fall into the Office of the Inspector General's

(OIG) List of Excluded Individuals/Entities

Hospital-specific infection control training

Site-specific orientation training

Site-specific HIPAA policy compliance Liability insurance

Credit checks, personal identification information, and more