Delineation of clinical privileges in rehabilitation medicine

The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) in 1995 developed a list of 75 clinical privileges (in laundry-list format) that are typical of physiatric practice. This list has been used by some hospitals as a template for physiatric staff privileging. The National Association of Medical Staff Services has advocated a short list of core privileges, supplemented by a list of highly specialized procedures. To assess current practices in physiatric privileging, we surveyed 35 rehabilitation facilities. Results showed that 66% (20/30) of the respondents were not aware of the AAPM&R recommendations. Furthermore, we found an almost even split between facilities using core (16/30) versus laundry list (14/30) privileges. We also found evidence that the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has recommended both types of approaches to different facilities in the recent past.