Attachment 5 APMC-CB SOP MAR 2022.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

AMEDD PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT COMMAND

4984 JONESBORO ROAD BUILDING 941

FOREST PARK GEORGIA 30297

AFRC-RMC-AMD 20 Mar 2022

SUBJECT: Standard Operating Procedure for Army Professional Management Command Credentialing Division

1. REFERENCES:

a. Army Regulation (AR) 40-68, Clinical Quality Management, Rapid Action Review 22 May 2009.

b. US Army Reserve Command (USARC) OPORD 09-106, Non-Privileged Provider (NPP) File Transition) 29 April 2009.

c. ALARACT 162/2009, Diploma Mills, DTG 292117Z MAY 09.

d. US Army Reserve Surgeon’s Office, Standard Operating Procedure for Management of U.S. Army Trauma Training Center Rotations for deploying Forward Surgical Teams, 28 October 2011.

e. DHA-PM 6025.13, Volume 4 August 29, 2019

2. SCOPE:

The purpose of this Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) is to provide standardized office management and guidelines for personnel performing duties within the Credentialing Division.

3. BACKGROUND:

Army Professional Management Command Credentialing Division (APMC-CD) supports US Army Reserve Commanders by ensuring that the clinical force is appropriately credentialed in an efficient, cost effective manner, which facilitates privileging for mobilization and training and enhances the operational readiness of the US Army Reserve. This credentialing process is completed through the use of military Risk Managers, Department of the Army Civilians (DAC), and Contract Civilians, each of which perform specific functions. Each of the specific functions supports and complements the other functions within APMC-CD. (Note refer to Annexes for specific and additional information regarding these functions.)

This SOP and the enclose Annexes applies to all Active Guard/Reserve (AGR), DAC, and Contractor personnel assigned or attached with duty at the AMEDD Professional Management Command (APMC) Credentialing Division.

The APMC Credentialing Division is the Army Reserve repository for all AMEDD personnel who are required to maintain medical professional credentials files.

4. RESPONSIBILITIES:

a. The APMC-CD is responsible for supporting the submission of special pay requests for U.S. Army Reserve Healthcare Providers who qualify for Special Pay. This program provides up to $75,000 to physicians in certain critical wartime specialties and payments are made in increments of $25,000 annually. Healthcare providers who receive specialty pay incur a duty service obligation on a one for one basis. That is, for every year Special Pay is received the healthcare provider incurs a one year of service requirement. Completion of a residency in a qualifying specialty is required to qualify for specialty pay and specialty pay is open to permanent U.S. residents only. Medical specialties which are eligible to receive Special Pay are determined on an annual basis by the Office of the Surgeon General.

b. The APMC-CD is responsible for the Quality Assurance of all U.S. Army Reserve Provider Credential Files. Risk Management (RM) involves a variety of activities designed to prevent the loss of human, materiel or financial resources and to limit the negative consequences of adverse or unanticipated events (barriers) that occur in a health care setting. The purpose of the Credentialing RM Program is to mitigate credentialing and privileging barriers in order to increase unit readiness and enhance mission accomplishment.

c. The APMC-CD is responsible for the maintenance and review of all U.S. Army Reserve Privileged and Non-Privileged Provider credential files. In accordance with AR 40-68, hardcopy files will be centrally maintained at APMC-CD and reviewed at least every two years, and an electronic file will be centrally maintained by APMC-CD in the Joint Centralized Credentials and Quality Assurance System (JCCQAS) and updated as needed.

d. The APMC-CD is responsible for ensuring healthcare providers are properly credentialed and Interfacility Credential Transfer Briefs (ICTBs) are processed and provided to Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF) and to the designated privileging authorities for the Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) for the privileging process. Non-privileged providers will require documentation of their credentials for mobilization to complete the validation process. Medical Readiness Training Exercises (MEDRETE) are sponsored by U. S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) and are training exercises designed to provide humanitarian assistance and free medical care to the people of the host nation, while helping improve the skills and working relations between the U.S. military medical forces and the military medical professionals of the host nation. The MEDRETE credentialing process is unique to the area of responsibility and therefore, the process is slightly different from the normal Interfacility Credentialing

Transfer Brief (ICTB) process. Overseas Duty Training (ODT) and Extended Combat Training (ECT), formally known as Annual Training (AT), are also events that require ICTB production and processing.

e. The APMC-CD is responsible for transitioning provider credential files (PCF) in and out of APMC. PCFs are transferred in and out (accordingly) to whenever any privileged or non-privileged provider joins the Army Reserve, retire and/or branch transfers.

f. The APMC-CD is responsible for the quality assurance of all U.S. Army Reserve PCFs. Credentialing staff performs Prime Source Verification (PSV) through third party prime sources utilizing mail, fax, internet sites, or telephone to verify the validity of the documents received from healthcare practitioners. These verifications must be legible, documented, and physically stored in the paper PCF files. Staff performing PSVs must also perform the data input into JCCQAS.

g. The APMC-CD is responsible for providing MTFs with a document known as an ICTB when a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier plans to provide patient care at that MTF or in the Area of Operations (AO) that facility is responsible for. The ICTB will be reviewed by the MTF Credentialing/Privileging Panel which will provide a recommendation to the MTF Commander on whether to grant privileges to the provider or not.

h. Credentialing Specialists will come across a credentialing document from a provider that is unable to be Prime Source Verified (PSV). The Army Reserve has seen an increase of false documentation or forged certificates which may be a result of the competitive nature of the medical field for advancement and requirements of maintaining a Bachelor Degree in Nursing for advancement / promotion to the rank of Major. These documents are purchased through unaccredited colleges and universities advertising instant degrees or degrees offered through the evaluation of experience or training, known as diploma / accreditation mills. The House of Representatives defines accreditation mills as entities that award degrees for “little or no” coursework and that lack accreditation by any government-recognized entity in the Diploma and Accreditation Integrity Protection Act of 2009 (HR 4535). Fraudulent or forged documents are against military policy and places providers’ integrity in question.

i. Occasionally, PCFs will not meet Army Regulation 40-68 standards or a provider will be involved in some type of adverse action. This may be caused by but not limited to the following: expired, inactive, invalid or restricted professional license, lost/expiration of professional certification, felony conviction, allegations of fraud or abuse, positive urine drug screening, loss or suspension of privileges, entry into an impaired healthcare provider program (IHCPP), disapproval of credentials by a peer review panel, identification of a risk management issue that hinders deployment or the ability to practice within their awarded area of concentration and/or the PCF does not meet one or more requirements as set for in AR 40-68. In cases of adverse actions or situations where a provider PCF does not meet AR 40-68 standards, the providers PCF will be coded as a “blue file” in the APMC workflow management system.

http://www.chea.org/pdf/Diploma%20Mill%20Final%20Draft.pdf

j. The APMC-CD is the centralized repository for all U.S. Army Reserve Health Care Provider credential files. It is the individual Soldier’s responsibility to maintain their PCF with current and accurate credential documents.

k. The APMC-CD conducts quarterly 100% inventory of all US Army Reserve Provider Credential Files (PCF).

l. ICTB eRequest is a web application developed by APMC Credentialing Division to provide the Army Reserve commanders with the ability to submit requests for ICTB electronically. A link to eRequest is also available on the APMC Credentialing Division website.

m. The Army Trauma Training Center (ATTC) at the Ryder Trauma Center located at Jackson Memorial Hospital; Miami, FL is responsible for training deploying Forward Surgical Teams (FST) and resuscitative, operative, and critical care teams for combat medical deployments.

5. POC for the SOP is LTC Willie M. Feagin at 404-279- 6649, willie.m.feagin2.mil@mail.mil