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Credentialing 2019
Addressing Credentialing Pain Points
Author
Tanya Egbert
Author
Jennifer Hickenlooper
Having a comprehensive credentialing process is vital for healthcare organizations to avoid malpractice, protect against financial risks, and ensure patient safety. As a result of many recent M&As, organizations have larger pools of providers to credential and are increasingly looking for IT tools with robust functionality and automation to make the process more efficient. This report, a follow-up to KLAS’ first credentialing report from 2018, dives into how well solutions resolve some of credentialing’s biggest pain points—time-consuming onboarding, manual and paper processes, and the need for a single, enterprise source of truth.
ASM MD-Staff, Modio, and Verge Deliver Value by Addressing Pain Points; symplr Cactus Falls Short
Driving high value, ASM MD-Staff, Modio Health, and Verge Health lead out in addressing credentialing pain points. Much of ASM MD-Staff’s value comes from strong training that enables effective report and alert usage, which simplifies workflows and increases efficiency (discussed in depth on pages 4–5). Most respondents also speak highly of the vendor’s staff and support. Modio Health primarily serves ambulatory organizations, though KLAS has validated a few acute care customers. Clients say Modio is highly responsive and communicative and quickly answers questions about the system; this gives organizations a strong understanding of the solution, making it easy to use and allowing them to optimize system functionality and achieve a smooth, timely workflow. Verge Health primarily offers credentialing services—with an interactive client web portal that includes provider profiles and other tools for managing the credentialing process—and is considered alongside other credentialing platforms. Many clients cite specific outcomes their engagement has helped them achieve—for example, no CMS or Joint Commission issues, no lapsed physician licenses, and an automated peer-review process.
Most symplr Cactus customers don’t feel the solution addresses their challenges or meets the expectations set during the sales process, regardless of which version they use (the older Visual Cactus or the newer web-based version). Many Visual Cactus users feel it is outdated and missing functionality. Clients on the web-based version say functionality gaps exist unless they add extra-cost modules. Many customers are frustrated with poor support and service.
ASM MD-Staff & Mostly Ambulatory Players Modio and Silversheet (Limited Data) Lead in Onboarding Support
While multiple factors affect the speed of provider credentialing (e.g., physician response time), the platform’s impact on onboarding can improve or hinder efficiency.
ASM MD-Staff, used mostly in acute care settings, offers web-based functionality that simplifies credentialing tasks through automation—which a few respondents credit to ASM’s new AI tool, Aiva. Several clients have seen a dramatic reduction in processing time because of the system, including one who cut processing time in half. Modio Health and Silversheet, both serving mostly ambulatory organizations, also give strong onboarding support. Modio Health customers report that supportive functionalities—such as email tools, tracking reports, and other onboarding tools—cover the full onboarding process, saving them time, streamlining the workflow, and driving efficiency. Many of the limited number of interviewed Silversheet customers say the vendor’s support and service contribute to smooth, efficient onboarding; a few mention support personnel who help make the system’s workflow meet the organization’s complex needs. A couple of organizations cite issues like slow system response time.
Acute Software Solutions ASM MD-Staff, Verity MSOW Deliver Automated Applications; symplr Cactus, Verity Echo Still Heavily Manual
Verge Health (primarily services), Modio Health (mostly ambulatory), and Silversheet (mostly ambulatory) have strong and comprehensive functionality that facilitates going paperless. Among acute care software systems, ASM MD-Staff and Verity MSOW†stand out in supporting automation. Customers of these vendors frequently highlight their online applications and ability to automatically upload information. Also, for back-and-forth communication with providers, these solutions can store documents and facilitate in-system changes and edits.
symplr Cactus users report a lack of automation in the program. Rather than getting automated alerts, many customers must run a manual report; while this report gives some of the information customers need about expiring credentials, it must be cleaned up. To get more automatic recredentialing alerts, clients have to purchase an expensive add-on module, License Monitor (also known as LEMM). A few customers feel symplr has an innovative vision but worry they are expanding too quickly and won’t be able to deliver. Many Verity Echo Solutions†customers also have to run manual reports to set up alerts. A few want notifications to be easier to view rather than appearing as an aggregated number in a small icon.
†Verity is currently beta testing a new Verity credentialing platform intended to supersede both Echo Solutions and MSOW.
Customers of ASM MD-Staff, Verity Echo, and Silversheet (Limited Data) More Frequently See Platform as Single Source of Truth
Whether a platform is a single source of truth for provider credentialing information depends partly on organizational factors but also on vendor-driven factors—most notably, integration with downstream systems. Organizations without a single source of truth often struggle with duplicative or conflicting information.
ASM MD-Staff is the only platform described as a single source of truth by all interviewed customers. Customers highlight specific modules as contributors; for example, they say E>Priv allows nurses and organizational employees to see provider information. MD-Staff users are more satisfied with integration than other customer bases, noting the platform’s ability to link with other departments and data sources. While Verity Echo Solutions has below-average performance in addressing most pain points, integration is one of the system’s highest-scoring metrics. Multiple customers praise the solution for feeding into downstream systems, specifically the EMR. Customers of Silversheet (limited data) report it is easy to use the portal and extract information to do their job quickly; multiple respondents describe primary-source verification as a quick process. Because the system is easy to use, users are more likely to turn to the Silversheet product over their other sources of provider information.
What Do Executives Need to Know about Credentialing?
In partnership with NAMSS (National Association of Medical Staff Services), KLAS asked medical staff professionals what they wished their organization’s executives knew about credentialing. Respondents highlighted how important and complex credentialing is and why they need executive support to do it well.
Writer
Amanda Wind Smith
Designer
Jess Wallace-Simpson
This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2024 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.