Developed By: Committee on Quality Management and Departmental Administration
Last Amended: October 18, 2023 (original approval: October 15, 2003)
The American Society of Anesthesiologists opposes the practice known as “economic credentialing,” by which decisions related to granting medical staff privileges are based on economic considerations rather than the ability to provide care. The Society believes that the granting, renewal and termination of medical staff privileges should be based upon quality of professional care considerations only and should occur pursuant to procedures set forth in the medical staff bylaws.
Examples of economic privileging may include the conditioning of medical staff privileges on: 1) the making of direct or indirect payments to the hospital, facility, or their agents in amounts that exceed the fair market value of facilities or services provided to medical staff member; 2) the requirement that members of a particular department of the medical staff accept less than fair market value for the provision of care to patients in the hospital or facility; 3) the requirement not to provide professional services or hold an ownership interest in a competing hospital, facility, or organization; 4) the requirement for medical staff to mandatorily participate in network affiliations with health plans or governmental payors without fair market compensation; or 5.) the requirement of charging a separate fee for credentialing at each individual facility within a health system that has multiple facilities, even when the system utilizes a standardized credentialing process. Such duplicative fees create an undue financial barrier, representing costs that significantly exceed the fair market value.
The Society asserts:
That anesthesiologists should not, as a condition of medical staff privileges, be compelled to purchase goods or services at more than fair market value or to provide their services at less than fair market value.
That quality of care issues involved in the privileging process should be exclusively dealt with by the medical staff, and that medical staff privileges should be granted, renewed, or terminated only upon the recommendation of the medical staff.
That restrictions on the right to practice at or hold an ownership interest in a competing facility should not be a precondition for the granting of medical staff privileges.
Last updated by: Governance
Date of last update: October 19, 2023