Provides expert witness services for attorneys dealing with any credentialing case: medical malpractice, wrongful death, personal injury and negligent credentialing, with 22 years of credentialing experience.
A patient dies on the operating table during surgery. The family, shocked and saddened, sues the practitioner and the hospital, and yet another multi-million dollar malpractice suit is launched. Is the surgeon at fault? What about the hospital that granted him privileges? As a growing number of malpractice attorneys on both sides of the proverbial fence are beginning to realize, the answer may very well lie with the medical staff services professional --- and they're willing to pay for the answers only Medical Staff Services Professionals (MSSP) can provide.
Laura Voigt, CPMSMS, CPCS, is among a handful of MSSPs who are called upon to provide their credentialing expertise in malpractice cases. "Attorneys are beginning to figure out that a malpractice case can be won or lost based on the credential file,” says Ms. Voigt. As medical staff services professionals, we're the experts; the gatekeeper. We are the people responsible for finding out if a physician is who he says he is, and that's a very important piece of information in malpractice lawsuits."
Ms. Voigt is technically qualified to serve as an expert witness on malpractice suits. It requires a deft knowledge of hospital bylaws, policies
and procedures, JCAHO and NCQA standards, state and federal health laws, Medicare/Medicaid standards, and credentialing and recredentialing procedures. Sound familiar?
· Is the practitioner's application verified by documentation?
· Does the practitioner's CV and work summary sheet match up? Are there any unexplained gaps in his/her work history?
· Has the practitioner kept up with biennial reappointments?
· What privileges is he/she requesting? Are they the same privileges that were requested two years ago?
· Has the practitioner met the minimum number of continuing medical education credits to retain his/her license? What area of CME did the practitioner study? Does it relate to the privileges requested?
· Do the practitioner's letters of reference attest to his/her clinical expertise? Or, do they simply convey what a "nice person" he/she is?
"The quality of patient care starts with MSSPs. It's our job to make sure Hospitals avoid malpractice suites by making sure the physicians they bring on board are highly trained and qualified."
For more information, please see Ms. Voigt’s website at www.medicalcredentials.org or you may contact her at 314-609-5256.
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