150.988 Economic Credentialing and Medical Staff Privileges:
It is the position of MSSNY that:
(1) No hospital or ambulatory facility shall curtail, restrict, or terminate the medical staff privileges of any physician without adherence to established procedures set forth in the medical staff Bylaws, and only after the accordance of due process rights pursuant to the procedures specified in the Federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, or in accordance with provisions of the hospital or ambulatory facility medical staff Bylaws; and (2) No hospital or ambulatory facility shall curtail, restrict, or terminate the medical staff privileges of any physician based upon economic criteria unrelated to the quality of patient care; and
(3) No hospital ambulatory facility shall solicit, require, or accept any payment as direct or indirect consideration for the awarding or granting by the hospital or ambulatory facility of the right to exercise medical staff privileges. This prohibition shall not apply to required payment of medical staff dues or medical society dues that may be required of all members of the hospital or ambulatory facility medical staff. (HOD 92-33; reaffirmed HOD 2014)
MSSNY’s Hospital Medical Staff Section developed a MSSNY Policy Paper on Economic Credentialing and Exclusive Contracts which was approved by Council on July 23, 1992. The Policy Paper is available, upon request, at the Society Headquarters in Lake Success. MSSNY affirmed the concept that the credentialing of physicians for medical staff appointment or reappointment should be based solely on issues of competency, training and quality of patient care. The Society is seeking regulatory or legislative remedies to assure that only those with appropriate medical training, experience and ongoing clinical expertise will have the ability to establish standards of care and measure practice by these standards. MSSNY has communicated to the Hospital Association of the State of New York, its component associations and all other appropriate and interested parties its concern over the use of an individual physician’s economic performance data which is being generated by hospitals in an effort to link charges, cost and clinical outcome as a major parameter, in and of itself, for the purposes of credentialing and re-appointing physicians. Hospital medical staff physicians and their leadership were informed by MSSNY to take precautions against any hospital initiative aimed at restructuring medical staff Bylaws which would emphasize economics and which could ultimately undermine quality of care. (HOD 1991-67; Reaffirmed HOD 2014; Reaffirmed in lieu of HOD 2020-66)
