William F. Mills, M.D., MMM, CPE, FAAFP, CMSL, senior vice president of quality and professional affairs for the Upper Allegheny Health System, will discuss how to use patient satisfaction scores to drive improvement at the 2012 Credentialing Resource Center Symposium, May 10-11. In anticipation of his talk, Mills created the Patient Satisfaction blog series to give readers a taste. Last week, Mills discussed being a good listener. This week, he flips over to the opposite side: how to explain things to patients so they truly understand. To read more, click here.

An increased number of physicians trained in both internal medicine and pediatrics (med-peds) can help with transitional care for chronically ill adolescents becoming adults and bring a more diverse base of medical knowledge, according to a recent online article in The Hospitalist.

Primary care is once again the most sought after area of healthcare employment amongst osteopathic physicians-to-be, based on results from the annual American Osteopathic Association (AOA) Intern/Resident Registration Program.

AOA Match results show family medicine as the most matched specialty with 433 filled positions– a 16% increase from last year’s match, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch section.

The first three weeks of each month, this weekly column from The Greeley Company will address current issues in peer review, bylaws and governance, and credentialing and privileging. The last week(s) it will cover other important medical staff related topics. Another day, another headline. One more hospital joins a healthcare system. What will change for the physicians when it comes to credentialing? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Choices will need to be made. Physicians know it and care, but can also be afraid of what lies ahead because decisions about credentialing, and especially about privileging, have the potential to support or threaten each physician’s chance to succeed.

Rick Sheff, MD, is principal and chief medical officer with The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro Inc. in Danvers, MA.