The U.S. Medical Licensing Examination’s (USMLE) Step 1 Committee has decided to raise the minimum passing score of the USMLE Step 1 exam from 188 to 192. The decision followed a review of the Step 1 exam and was based on information from multiple sources, including recommendations from...
Some elements of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which would expedite the medical licensing process for physicians who wish to practice in multiple states, will be ready for review early next year, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). A drafting committee of the...
After holding steady at 19% from 2007 to 2011, the all-cause 30-day hospital readmission rate among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries fell to 18.5% in 2012, and has continued to fall in 2013, according to an entry posted on The CMS Blog website last week. Preliminary claims data shows...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced more than 270 grants totaling $55.5 million in funding to address healthcare workforce needs in nursing, public health, behavioral health, workforce development, and dentistry. The grants are managed by HHS’ Health Resources and...
Bylaws serve as the governing documents of the medical staff. Bylaws must meet the hospital’s accreditor’s standards, state and federal regulations, and the needs of the hospital’s medical staff. The Guide to Medical Staff Bylaws offers tips for writing bylaws and actual sample...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 14, Issue 48
Healthcare employment continued to increase in November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). The sector expanded by 28,000 jobs overall, with the biggest gains in home healthcare services (12,000 jobs) and physicians’ offices (7,000). However, jobs in nursing care...
Credentialing Resource Center Digest - Volume 14, Issue 48
CPEP, The Center for Personalized Education for Physicians, has received a $200,000 grant from the Colorado Health Foundation to help primary care and mental health clinicians who have been out of clinical practice for an extended time resume clinical practice in underserved/rural areas. The 18-...
The draft of the next National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Guide is available for comment through early next year. Some things have changed since the last edition was printed—for starters, the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank has been merged into the NPDB, although this merger...
With the rise in laparoscopic surgery for many common surgical procedures, some in healthcare are concerned that surgeons may eventually lose proficiency for open procedures, writes Sekptical Scalpel in a recent guest blog for Physicians Weekly. Other open operations have been done...
The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) praised CMS changes that would expand coverage of telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries starting next month. “The proposed new rules, while incremental, represent another step toward integrating the use of telecommunications technology into...
