The Doctor Can See You Now is our new blog series in which we will post credentialing experiences and opinions from doctors’ perspectives. After all, the credentialing process affects doctors on the most personal level: credentialing determines when and where they can start working and seeing patients. So it is important that they be a part of the conversation.

Our first interview comes from Dr. Cathy Fanning. She is a board-certified physician and has worked in a variety of arenas including in rural clinics, multiple physician groups and private practices. She is currently relocating from North Carolina to Ohio so that she can care for her parents more readily. With this transition, she intends to practice telemedicine for the flexibility it will offer as she gets established in Ohio.

We connected with Dr. Fanning through our telehealth client, WellVia, who sent her our electronic credentialing application. Dr. Fanning was gracious to speak with us in the midst of her transition halfway across the country. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

andros: With your diverse background, you’ve probably been through the credentialing process many times.

Dr. Fanning: More than I care to remember.

andros:  What has been your typical credentialing experience?

Dr. Fanning: Typically the following happens when you want to take on another job: first you have to engage with contracts and get that accomplished. Of course that takes a while. If you are in between jobs at the time, all this is time you are not being paid because you can’t work. And then when you hit the credentialing part, then that starts a timeframe where you have [to wait] about 90 days. And the strange thing is that no matter how many years go by and how much technology has improved, it always seems to be 90 days. If you haven’t been able to overlap jobs then you’re just stuck for three months! Unless, of course, you can find some interim job with a locum company that can credential faster.

andros:  How was your credentialing experience with WellVia using andros different from your previous experiences?

Dr. Fanning: Oh my gosh. It was an entirely different experience. When I was credentialed with andros, the turnaround time was a matter of days. It was less than a week, and I was ready to go. I’ve already heard back from WellVia, and I’ve actually gotten things going so fast that they are going faster than I’m prepared for because I’ve got to drive up to Ohio and get our Internet set up. The whole thing was incredibly fast. So much nicer. I don’t really understand why we can’t do that everywhere. Is there a reason why hospitals have to take so long? I just don’t understand that.

andros:  Agreed. That is in fact why andros was founded. We didn’t believe that the credentialing process should be such a bottleneck for physicians, payers or insurers.

Dr. Fanning: The thing that is really strange about credentialing, if you think about it, is the fact that technology is so much better now and most physicians have been credentialed multiple times at the same places for the same insurance companies. So why do [you] have to go start from scratch every single time you start over again. Once your name comes up in the national databank they should know everything about you. It shouldn’t be that hard. If we truly have a shortage of physicians, it’s really, in large part, made more sluggish by the fact that credentialing is so cumbersome.

andros:  So if you had to sum up how andros’s credentialing process has impacted you, what would you say?

Dr. Fanning: andros has made it possible that I can start working right away. As soon as I get set up in Ohio, I can start working with WellVia. It happened so quickly; I’m really not prepared on my end. I thought I had plenty of time because everything would take longer. It was a lot easier than I’ve experienced before.

We appreciate Dr. Fanning’s time and perspective on the credentialing process and couldn’t agree more with her assessment: credentialing doesn’t need to be so hard. andros is harnessing technology to automate the credentialing process and manage provider data.

Source: New feed