Strengthening governance with Cgov’s Credentialing Solution

One of Australia’s largest not-for-profit health service providers was facing a significant hurdle. Its two public and eight private hospitals used manual processes to credential every new practitioner. With a growing number of applications to be rigorously checked and processed, this strained administrative staff and delays held back practitioners who were eager to get on with patient care.

In 2012, the organisation decided to find a system to help automate the credentialing application process. After an extensive search for the ideal technology partner and platform, Cgov emerged as the unequivocal choice. Cgov’s digital credentialing platform was implemented across their hospitals in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland, successfully replacing paperwork and spreadsheets with streamlined workflow and document storage.

Both staff and practitioners quickly reaped the benefits. The Cgov platform replaced the need for multiple spreadsheets, required less manual work and less time spending chasing up documentation. However, over the years it became evident that each hospital appeared to be operating their system independently. There was a lack of standardisation and governance at a national level.

The existing contract with Cgov was almost due for renewal and the organisation executives identified a national system was required. As well as improving overall governance, this would allow file sharing between facilities and free up resources through a more comprehensive approach.

Key challenges were identified as:

Duplication and lack of collaboration

Practitioners were credentialled at each separate hospital. For practitioners seeking work in multiple facilities, this meant duplicated efforts for both practitioners and credentialing staff.

Lack of standardisation

The absence of a standardised framework for credentialing and defining scopes of practice meant variability across hospitals, potentially compromising compliance and quality of care.

Recognising the need for stronger governance and greater efficiencies, the organisation sought a technology partner to provide a unified, standardised national credentialing solution. They needed a team with a deep understanding of the healthcare industry and, importantly, a partnership approach.

The organisation conducted an extensive search to find a company they could work with to build a national credentialing system – one that would maintain the existing framework and migrate it successfully across all facilities. It was decided that Cgov was best placed to meet their needs.

To develop, build and implement this new national system, they established a project team including a Project Sponsor, Project Leader, and members from various specialist groups together with Cgov staff.

A Queensland facility was selected as the pilot site and began updating their system in October 2016. In just over a month, they identified several improvements and implemented them. The remainder of their other facilities were then similarly updated, and a full national credentialing system was operational by the end of February 2017.

The Cgov team collaborated with the organisation to define other opportunities for improvement. Working together, they developed the VMO AIR Vaccination Tracker and the Staff AIR Vaccination Tracker which connect the Cgov platform with the Australian Immunisation Register.

The implementation of the VMO AIR Vaccination Tracker was so successful, the organisation engaged Cgov to create a tracker for the whole organisation of 27,000 staff. The Staff AIR Vaccination Tracker connects directly with Workday, meaning Human Resource teams can easily collect vaccination data on newly onboarded staff.

“During the pandemic, our Infection Control team asked Cgov if they could pull vaccination data on our Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs) directly from AIR. Cgov went away and did what they do best. Now we can easily see if our practitioners are vaccinated. It’s one less email they have to open and one less document they have to provide,” said the National Credentialing Administrator.

The impact of Cgov’s national credentialing platform yielded remarkable results with the most notable achievements included:

Stronger governance. Better oversight.

The organisation now has a singular source of truth for essential criteria. Credentialing processes are standardised and documented, ensuring their efficiency and effectiveness are monitored and maintained.

Improved compliance. Reduced risk

The automatic interface with AHPRA delivers real-time updates, allowing hospitals to track practitioners’ compliance with evolving regulations and standards.

“Our system and AHPRA talk every night. If thereare changes to the registration

 status of one ofour practitioners, we get an automatic alert.“

National Credentialing Administrator

Greater information sharing. No duplicated efforts

The centralised database provides access to comprehensive credentialing information for teams across the organisation when and where it’s required. One team manages requests, verifications and monitoring, sharing files across facilities as necessary. Practitioners need only submit their application and supporting documents once.

Collaborative efforts. More staff satisfaction

Collaboration across facilities has had a positive impact on staff morale. Even the most reticent credentialing officers are now thrilled with the national system which allows them to focus on more value-added activities rather than duplicating those already completed by their counterparts.

National communications made easy

Disseminating information has never been easier. Group Office now has a database from which to capture segmented lists and send relevant group communications.

“Important news, like changes in regulations or CPD point requirements, can be easily sent to those operating within a particular scope of practice, or within a particular state.”

Growing together to provide safer care

The National Credentialing Administrator said that the national upgrade was one of the best projects she’s ever worked on.

gov are so easy to work with. We bounce off each other and grow together. When we have an issue, they’re all over it. Cgov create better products, not just for us, but for our practitioners too. We ask them if it’s possible to pull this from there and move that to there, and they find a solution. That’s what they do!”

The regional health service partnership has been thrilled to work with Cgov. In just six months, they have successfully transitioned from rigid and fragmented credentialing systems to a collaborative, digital platform that’s efficient, transparent and secure. The process of requesting, gathering, validating and monitoring practitioner information has never been easier. Cgov has streamlined all credentialing admin and documentation storage in one single source of truth.