Starting an Interdisciplinary APP Committee in the Hospital Setting

An advanced practice professional committee helps hospitals that are struggling to apply normal medical staff processes to advanced practitioners.  

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared on Credentialing Resource Center on July 17, 2017. 

As advanced practice professionals (APP) gain more independence in the clinical setting, many medical staffs are creating interdisciplinary committees to bring together APPs and physicians to discuss best practices for credentialing, privileging, and competence assessment of thse advanced practitioners.

Carol Cairns, CPMSM, CPCS, advisory consultant for The Greeley Company and president of PRO-CON provides the following advice for medical staffs thinking about creating this type of committee. 

Before you start a committee, find a few physician champions and APPs who are regarded highly amongst their peer group and appear to be leaders,and  begin a discussion with them—would they be interested in having such a structure? You can also reach out to other organizations that have such a structure and look at what policies and procedures they have, if they have built it into their bylaws, and so on.

Then, introduce the idea to some medical staff leaders and medical staff committees. Begin with the credentials and quality committees’ chairs. This could lead to a discussion at the respective committee level. Also discuss the advantages of such a committee with a couple of department chairs—especially those who are having difficulty assessing the competence of APPs on an ongoing basis. Ensure support for the concept from the VPMA/CEO and chief nursing officer. 

The APP interdisciplinary committee (APPIC) should not be an independent committee. The APP committee functions within the medical staff structure. Once several medical staff leaders are supportive (and hopefully, their respective committees have recommended the establishment of such a committee, then it is time for the medical executive committee (MEC) to consider the concept. The final step would be the governing body—generally through either the minutes of the medical executive committee or a formal recommendation.   

Once the concept is supported and approved, then the committee’s purpose, membership, scope, and responsibilities should be spelled out in a bylaw or organizational manual policy. This will also provide protection for peer review processes under the state statutes as applicable.

The following functions are within the scope of responsibilities of APP interdisciplinary committees across the country:

• Review and recommend initial applicants to the department chair/credentials committee
• Identify opportunities to improve care
• Conduct peer review on APPs
• Establish standards for care
• Provide input into the privileges and clinical criteria for the various APP disciplines
• Create educational opportunities within the organization