Credentialing: Perspectives from the Academy

Abstract

The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (HKAM) is an independent institution with statutory power to organise, monitor, assess and accredit all medical and dental specialist training in Hong Kong. In order to ensure specialist registration compliance, the Academy also provides and accredits continuing medical education and continuous professional development. With recent rapid expansion of our knowledge in medicine, technological advances and scope of service, there is also a need to set up further policies to uphold clinical governance and accountability. Medical credentialing is the process of establishing qualifications of the medical professionals, organisational members or organisations, and assessing their background and competency. This has been introduced in many western countries for a number of years. In some countries, it is also a practice to allow medical service providers to network with insurance companies. However, the ultimate purpose must be to safeguard the health of patients, in addition to enhancing the credibility and quality of healthcare professionals and service providers. Medical credentialing has recently been introduced by the Hospital Authority to define the scope of practice of its staff and to maintain its quality of service. Within the Academy, a Working Group has also been set up to identify the areas for credentialing and its process. One of the first tasks is to formulate a general credentialing protocol which includes an initial accreditation process, regular reviews, and remedial and appeal procedures. Concurrently, colleges are invited to identify medical procedures and treatment which require early considerations for credentialing, and to define specific assessment and review processes. With over 6,000 fellows working in various disciplines under 15 Academy Colleges, this endeavour will be an arduous and slowly evolving one. This may also be compounded by the blurring of conventional boundaries between disciplines with some medical management protocols and procedures being practised by fellows across colleges. Nevertheless, medical credentialing is the right direction for the development of specialty and subspecialty medicine in Hong Kong, and the Academy is grateful for the support of our colleges in this effort.