Tool for more efficient credentialing.

Your office staff can spend many hours completing credentialing forms for healthcare plans and hospital privileges. The Universal Credentialing DataSource is a credentialing-application database project sponsored by the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH). The CAQH seeks to make the provider credentialing process more efficient for providers and healthcare organizations.

With this program, all provider information necessary for credentialing is collected on an online database. This eliminates the paperwork and hassle that many providers face during the credentialing process. There is no charge to use Universal Credentialing DataSource. The CAQH sends providers an e-mail every 3 months to remind them to update their credentialing data. The CAQH Web site (http://www.caqh.org) provides a list of health plans and other healthcare organizations that participate. The Universal Credentialing DataSource is endorsed by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Your staff may update your information as needed and refer participating hospitals and healthcare plans to the CAQH Web site for the information they require. Your office should be using this helpful tool to reduce the burden of the credentialing process.

Steven F. Isenberg, MD

Dr. Isenberg is an otolaryngologist in private practice in Indianapolis; [e-mail]