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Problem Doctors: Is There a System-Level Solution?
- David R. Gifford, MD, MPH;
- Robert S. Crausman, MD, MMS; and
- Bruce W. Mcintyre, JD
- From Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence RI 02908.
TO THE EDITOR:
Although we agree with Leape and Fromson's (1) call for action about the need to address physician performance failures, we do not believe that relying on the hospital credentialing process will adequately address this vexing problem for several reasons. First, many physicians do not have admitting privileges to any hospital. Second, among those who do have these privileges, most admit very few patients (2). Third, with the advent of hospitalists and the shift of more health services to the ambulatory setting, hospital credentialing committees now only oversee a fraction of the practicing physicians' delivery of service. Fourth, as the authors summarize, …
