Joint Commission Seeks Input on Proposed Licensed Independent Practitioner Coverage Standard for Long Term Care, Behavioral Health Care Organizations

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) released for review a proposed revised standard that would address credentialing and privileging requirements for licensed independent practitioners who provide short-term coverage for other licensed independent practitioners in long term care and behavioral health care organizations.

The proposed revised language is posted on the Joint Commission website, and has been distributed for review and comment to stakeholders at behavioral health care and long term care organizations, as well as health professionals with expertise in those fields. The deadline for feedback is January 5, 2005.

The revised requirement would address credentialing and privileging for a licensed independent practitioner who provides coverage of 72 hours or less for another licensed independent practitioner. In both the long term care and behavioral health care settings, an individual licensed independent practitioner commonly covers the clinical duties of another licensed independent practitioner for short periods of time, such as weekends or vacations. Such coverage may be difficult to identify where the covering licensed independent practitioner is required to go through the organization's entire credentialing and privileging process. The proposed revisions to the standards are intended to reduce the burdens related to this coverage for both organizations and licensed independent practitioners while maintaining health care quality and safety.

For more information about the field review, please contact Arlene McLean-Batts, senior research associate, Division of Standards and Survey Methods, Joint Commission, at 630.792.5919 or amclean-batts@jcaho.org.

Source: JCAHO