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There it was…on the front page of the Wall Street Journal,Wednesday, September 21, 2005…“A Doctor’s Tale Shows Weaknesses in Medical Vetting…Despite Erratic Education, Trail of Suits, Dr. King Got Job at Hospital.” The story, written by Paul Davies, documents a compelling rationale for conducting a comprehensive pre-on-site visit background check.  This Wall Street Journal story is among many stories of physicians, having less than a stellar background, who obtained practice positions in communities and with hospitals. Just in the past few years, many stories have been telecast on the major network and cable news magazine shows revealing the shady pasts of a few physicians. In the June 2004 edition of Reader’s Digest, Derek Burnett skillfully writes about four physicians who had an excessive number of lawsuits and were finally…too late in Mr. Burnett’s opinion…disciplined by their respective state licensure boards…and at the time of publication one of the physicians was still being allowed to practice.

When is the best time to conduct a background check?

Do you want to wait until the physician has already signed a contract and subsequently submitted a completed application to the facility,only to have the Credentialing Department discover that the physician cannot be licensed in your state?

You may want to consider conducting a comprehensive pre-on-site visit background check to be sure the physician is who they say they are…has been where they say they’ve been…is certified by whom they say they’re certified…was trained where they say they’ve been trained…and licensed by whom they say they’ve been licensed.