Vendor Compliance

What Are You in For?

November 17, 2011 at 7:43 pm 5 comments

The question seems innocuous enough.  But it becomes loaded with concerns about patient privacy when a hospital contractor not on the medical staff asks it.

Hospitals and ASCs that concentrate their rep and vendor credentialing programs on device reps in clinical areas overlook the large number of vendors and reps in their halls that aren’t providing clinical products and services, but still present HIPAA, liability, and other risks to their patients and daily operations.

Facilities contractors in particular move virtually unnoticed through the hospital yet have extensive access.  Facilities vendors range from general contractors to plumbers to painters, to name a few.  Because of the services they provide, their relationship is quite different compared to that of a medical device rep.  So, thinking about facilities vendors and credentialing, a few areas you may want to consider:

• Immunizations:  Although they’re not working directly with your patients, they may be working  in patient care areas.  Ensure they are not unnecessarily exposing themselves—or others—to certain diseases that could easily be prevented by an immunization.
• Training and Licensing:  Considering the impact a facilities vendor mishap could have on your hospital, you should ensure that the individuals working in your hospital are qualified to do the job, have any necessary licenses, and do not have a criminal history.
• HIPAA Awareness:  Many of our hospital and ASC customers are very sensitive to potential patient privacy breaches.  You will want to know these reps are aware of HIPAA regulations…and won’t be inclined to ask one of your patients “what are you in for?”
• Insurance:  Adequate insurance coverage is an absolute must.  A New York hospital recently had to pay over a million dollars to a contracted facilities worker who fell off the roof while doing maintenance.  His employer didn’t have proper workers comp insurance coverage, which prompted the individual to sue the hospital.   This could have been prevented had the hospital captured and verified necessary insurance through its credentialing process.

Although facilities vendors may not be as keenly aware of the countless rules and regulations in the healthcare world as your clinical vendors, they should provide you with documents and information you need to mitigate the risks they do pose.  If you have a process in place today that allows you to rest easy at night in regards to facilities vendors, that’s great.  But, if you don’t, you should consider adding these service providers to your vendor credentialing program.

Guest post by Colby Leggett, Vendormate, Provider Account Management Team Manager

Entry filed under: Know Your Vendor, materials management, risk management, vendor credentials, vendor management. Tags: .