Rep prep misstep?
CHICAGO — Call it irony, incompetence or
idiocy.
We can send a high-tech dune buggy to
Mars, track its maneuverings and actually drive it around via remote
control from hundreds of thousands of miles away. But we struggle to track
which sales rep or even pizza guy roams through the operating room back
hallways.
Whether you call it vendor credentialing,
supplier credentialing or the more politically correct supplier
management, the process of validating and verifying authentic sales reps
has reached a boiling — and possibly turning — point rather quickly.
During a panel discussion on supplier
credentialing here at the Health Industry Representatives Association’s
annual conference independent reps in attendance voiced their concerns
about the matter. Tensions were palpable. And with good reason.
Why? For one, economics. It costs
considerable coinage to manage a supplier credentialing program, as well
as to "be managed" by one. Manufacturer-direct sales reps tend to work for
companies with a seven-digit minimum bank account that more than covers
this cost of doing business. The independent reps under contract to
manufacturers? They tend to foot their own bills.
Still, with emphases on HIPAA, medical
errors and patient safety, it’s hard to argue against the need for
supplier credentialing. Panelist Rhett Suhre, director, HCIR
Credentialing, Abbott Laboratories, deftly noted "It just takes one person
to do something dumb…" Suhre, one of the architects trying to forge
direction, order and structure from the emotional uncertainty, chaotic
frustration many companies have felt and shoot-from-the-hip responses, is
spot-on. Too much is at risk and at stake to do nothing.
Suhre is part of a coalition of
professionals and companies trying to get in front of this issue before
the government feels the itch to get involved. And rightly so. Some in the
HIRA audience actually raised the prospect of Congressional oversight.
Apparently, healthcare organizations do
not apply supplier credentialing rules universally. The direct and
independent sales rep, for example, must jump through costly hoops to get
into the inner sanctums of hospitals, but the pizza guy or third-party
courier services rep, etc., may get a free pass. Senators on the Judiciary
committee subcommittee stirring about antitrust and restraint-of-trade
claims might salivate at the opportunity this charge brings.
Certainly, supplier credentialing isn’t a
"new" issue, but much of the industry is playing catch-up to keep up. Give
the players props in this sector of the Wild West, however, as we’ve only
been nosing around this for the last six years or so and really turned up
the heat within the last 24 months. Debate about bar coding and even
supply data standards is comfortably nestled well into its third decade.
The supplier credentialing coalition
holds meetings and workshops to craft best practices, processes, standards
and tools, all of which are noteworthy and needed goals.
One of its primary aims is to develop
standardized processes, such as 25 criteria that must be included in the
credentialing database. Anything beyond that would be customized
"one-offs" determined by each facility.
Another goal seeks to delineate the
blurred lines between supply chain, clinical services and risk management.
At the HIRA meeting one independent rep eloquently wrist-slapped the
industry for tacitly accepting fuzzy justifications for supplier
credentialing that claim it will lead to "better clinical outcomes."
Perform specific clinical studies to support those persuasive arguments
before issuing them, he saliently urged. After all, if "show me the data"
works for doctors and surgeons, it also should suffice for sales reps.
What’s also needed is some type of
independent regulatory body, independent of government, to oversee
supplier credentialing practices. Three credit reporting bureaus manage
how consumers invest in the economy through credit. Because they are prone
to errors, they need oversight to protect people unwilling to pay cash for
everything.
More than just a Healthcare Supplier
Credentialing Association (because the acronym already is taken), this
regulatory body must stress and strive for accuracy, compliance and
ethical behavior. If this represents the way we have to do business then
we’d better do it right.