Case Study: Automatic Vendor Credentialing
Authority and Access Made Easy in Healthcare
The business definition of credentialing is the process by which the eligibility of a person for a particular job or task is established by determining if the person has the specified qualifications and fulfills the defined requirements (1).In the healthcare industry, credentialing determines the legitimacy of an individual or vendor,and if they have the authority to enter the facility's grounds for the purpose of providing a value-added product or service.
Why is Vendor Credentialing Important?
Many outside helping hands factor into the successful day to day operational support of any given hospital or medical office. Effective gatekeeping for the privacy, security, and safety of patients and staff requires a form of vendor credentialing. According to Karen Ekstein of Healthcare Purchasing News, the current healthcare climate has become more complex, sensitive, and political, resulting in a greater concern for patient protection and reduction of business risks (2).
An increase in concern for accountability in this digital age compounds the gatekeeping complexity of the healthcare environment. The process of vendor credentialing is an essential solution, helping hospitals capitalize on workflow efficiency while addressing these issues. A trusted partner like Symplr makes it possible.
A Symplr Solution Has Arrived
Symplr is an industry leader providing easy-to-use software and services which help healthcare organizations meet accreditation and regulatory compliance requirements. They set out to make credentialing the simplest part of an organization's business processes and have done so with ease. Focusing on vendor and general credentialing, provider management, and payer enrollment services, Symplr has streamlined processes and created a secure system healthcare organizations can rely on.
How is Vendor Credentialing Done?
Historically, vendor credentialing has been managed in-house by the hospital or healthcare organization staff. Keeping up with changes in requirements, security, and more make the task increasingly more time consuming with a greater fear of items falling through the cracks. For most organizations, this effort becomes an inefficient use of resources. Organizations are finding it more cost-effective and productive to hire a third-party vendor credentialing company such as Symplr. Symplr provides credentialing services on behalf of the hospital or healthcare facilities. This puts hospital resources to better use, increases accountability, and closes security gaps.
The Benefits of Having SymplrPass
SymplrPass is Symplr's solution for quick, accessible vendor credentialing.
This intuitive, easy to use station requires no internet connection. A revolutionary self-check-in station, Symplr can secure every access point in an entire facility. It scans, screens, and verifies anyone entering the facility. SymplrPass helps protect patients' safety and reduces risks by ensuring that vendors are fully compliant with the facility policies.
With SymplrPass, facilities can:
- Boost their credentialing process
- Configure a system to unique facility policies
- Quickly assess vendor compliance
- Satisfy auditing requirements through real-time data logs
- Automate vendor check-in activity alerts
- Manage processes for multi-facility location.
How Does SymplrPass Work?
A vendor entering the hospital or healthcare facility is required to have the Symplr smartphone application downloaded.
On the app, they indicate which hospital or facility they are visiting. The app assigns them a barcode using GoCode®, Code Corporation's secure, unique two-dimensional barcode symbology technology. GoCode® is a proprietary symbol and is utilized by companies that have an application that benefits from using a secure barcode. GoCode is a perfect solution for counterfeiting problems or for applications requiring advanced security. GoCode may also be created with user authentication features so critical or sensitive data may only be read by approved and licensed readers.
After being assigned a barcode by the application, the vendor scans the barcode using the SymplrPass check-in station. These check-in stations feature an integrated CR1000 barcode scanner from Code®. Symplr chose the Code barcode reader selection based on the zero-miss read performance of the scanner as well as the service and support provided by the team at Code. The CR1100 reads barcodes directly from a mobile device screen, which is exactly what Symplr looked for during its selection process.
Once the vendor scans their application at the station and they are verified, a day pass prints from that station giving them access to complete their requested services for the day. This process is repeated each day to ensure facility and personnel changes/requirements are enforced.
Accountability That Protects and Reduces Risk!
Vendor credentialing is not only a hot topic of discussion today but an extremely important accountability task for hospitals and healthcare facilities. This single function protects the safety and reduces the overall risk for hospitals, patients and staff. Symplr has created an efficient end-user solution to make vendor credentialing fast, easy, and secure. Code is excited to play a part in this successful mobile data capture solution helping to conserve hospital resources while ensuring a facility is kept safe, secure, and in compliance.
This scan-and-go credentialing technology has the power to maximize resources, optimize processes, ensure accountability, and take healthcare securely to that next level of efficiency.
Sources:
(1) http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/credentialing.html
(2) http://www.hpnonline.com/inside/2013-06/VendorCredOverview.pdf
