It’s like doing your taxes or balancing your budget every year -- CRNA credentialing and re-credentialing are necessities that can be unwieldy and time-consuming if not handled properly. Gathering your certifications and licensures ahead of time is key, in addition to how you are storing this sensitive information. Let’s discuss what this process entails.
Initial Credentialing for CRNAs
Not only is credentialing how you prove that your background, experience, and licensure make you qualified to provide anesthesia care, but it is also how you can begin to receive payments for insurance claims. Delaying this process can hold up your income and stall your practice. Once compiled, your comprehensive credentialing packet must be sent to the facility where you will be practicing. Or, if it is your own practice, your business address and relevant information must also be uploaded for insurance company verification.
Your packet includes:
- A recent background check and drug screening
- Your diplomas and CV
- Your license to practice in Alabama
- Your National CRNA License
- Your board certifications
- Your CEU certificates
- Your COI for malpractice insurance
- A current ACLS certification
- Your DEA and CDS certificates
- A self-query from the National Practitioner Data Bank
- Your business address and information (if applicable)
Gathering these documents, as laborious as it is, is not a one-time thing. Certifications and licensures must be renewed, and CEU credits added as they accumulate.
Need help keeping track? Contact us today.
Keeping your Credentials Up-to-Date
Do you know when your DEA certificate expires? How about your COI? How many CEUs do you need to complete before the next license renewal cycle? Do you know if you’ve met the content requirements?
Keeping track of all these crucial details can become a nightmare if you’re not properly organized. CRNAs in Alabama currently must complete 24 board-approved CEU hours to renew their licenses every two years. These aren’t just random hours, however, but must cover certain training areas. CRNAs must have six contact hours in pharmacology to complete the CEUs needed for license renewal. So, what’s the best way to keep track of all these moving deadlines?
Your CAQH and You
MBM can help with renewals and credentialing so that you don’t risk lapsing and operating without a license. The industry standard for tracking your credentialing is through the Council for Affordable and Quality Healthcare (CAQH). You must re-attest to your credentials every 90 days and keep your documents updated in the CAQH database.
Both payers and insurance companies will be referencing your info from this database, cutting down on redundant applications and requests for information. MBM maintains its own electronic provider data file of all your documentation in addition to helping update your CAQH. We include redundancy in storing these sensitive and vital documents and frequent amendments, so your credentialing documents are always ready and on hand. All of this leads to freeing up your time to do what you went into practice to do -- treat patients. Contact us here to learn more.
