title: Privilege delineation in a demanding new environment.
abstract: The delineation of clinical privileges is one of the most important means for hospitals to ensure high-quality care. Competition, cost control, and public accountability have created the need for hospitals to assure effective privilege delineation processes. Hospitals should focus on issues of practice variation, continuity of care, volume of services provided and planned, and the integration of ethical considerations into clinical decisions. How information is obtained, verified, and acted upon is reviewed within the organizational framework of the hospital. Several leaders within the hospital, such as the clinical department chairs and members of the medical staff executive committee, have important functions in the clinical privilege delineation process. Granting clinical privileges is a critical hospital function that requires a commitment by the governing body, management, and medical staff leaders.
authors: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors: J S
authors: JS
authors: Roberts
authors: M H
authors: MH
authors: Radany
authors: D B
authors: DB
authors: Nash
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006740:Hospital Administrators; D007255:Information Services; D008504:Medical Staff Privileges; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care