The inefficiencies of present systems for physician credentialing

The requirements of physicians credentialing have become standardized through the broad acceptance of the credentialing standards developed by the major accrediting bodies. However, attempts to share credentials documentation and data have been few, resulting in much redundancy among credentialing programs and excessive application paperwork for physicians. This article describes recent initiatives in the standardization of application forms and office site reviews and in the sharing of physician data. Also discussed are questions that have been raised in recent years about the value of some information that has traditionally been considered in physician credentialing.