As an HR leader, you’re constantly balancing the need for efficient processes with the broader goals of your organization. When it comes to credentialing, it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing solely on cost and time metrics. While these are important, they are only part of the equation. To truly add value to your organization, you need to consider the broader impact of your credentialing program.

Discover how you can redefine value in the credentialing process by evaluating key factors beyond cost and time metrics.

 Table of Contents

1. Why You Should Look Beyond Just Cost and Time Metrics
2. 3 Factors to Consider When Defining the Value of Credentialing
3. Improving Your Current Program
4. Selecting a New Vendor

Why You Should Look Beyond Just Cost and Time Metrics

Credentialing is more than just a checkbox on your to-do list. Yes, reducing costs and shortening timeframes are essential, but they shouldn’t overshadow the bigger picture. Think about the ripple effects of your credentialing process. How does it impact patient care, organizational efficiency, or employee satisfaction? By focusing only on cost and time, you might miss out on the long-term benefits of a well-rounded credentialing strategy.

When you look beyond the obvious measures, you start to see how your credentialing program can contribute to the overall health of your organization. For example, faster onboarding is great, but if it leads to incomplete or incorrect verifications, it could ultimately cost you more in terms of compliance issues or patient care risks. It’s about finding the right balance and aligning your credentialing process with your broader organizational goals.

3 Factors to Consider When Defining the Value of Credentialing

To truly understand the value of your credentialing program, you need to evaluate several key factors. Let’s dive into these critical elements and see how they influence your overall success.

1. Accuracy and Completeness

Accuracy and completeness should be at the core of any credentialing program. Unverified previous employers and degrees mean your employees must do more legwork, increasing your overall verification cost. Incomplete verifications or frequent disputes can disrupt the entire onboarding process, leading to delays and potential legal challenges.

Tracking disputes and monitoring incomplete verifications will give you a clearer picture of where your program might be falling short. Transparency in reporting metrics is essential‌ — ‌knowing where issues arise allows you to address them proactively. You need a credentialing process that guarantees accuracy and provides peace of mind that all bases are covered.

2. Time to Onboarding and Placement

Time is money, but in the healthcare sector, it’s also about patient care. Delays in onboarding because screening processes aren’t complete can cause problems with service, affect customer outcomes, and hurt your organization’s reputation. However, it’s not just about how fast you can run a background check: it’s about how effective the process is.

Understanding your organization’s specific goals for onboarding timelines is crucial. Are you aiming for speed, or is thoroughness more important? Measuring the effectiveness of the entire process, rather than just the time taken, ensures that you aren’t sacrificing quality for speed.

3. Your Team’s Investment in Resources

Inaccurate or incomplete background screenings can create a significant burden on internal HR teams, turning what should be a streamlined process into a series of time-consuming tasks. When a background check misses key details or returns incomplete results, HR teams must step in to fill the gaps, often requiring additional rounds of verification and follow-up with candidates or external agencies.

This not only delays the onboarding process but also diverts HR resources away from more strategic initiatives, forcing them to manage the fallout from these errors. The need to correct or compensate for faulty screenings increases workload, strains internal resources, and can lead to frustration within the HR team, ultimately diminishing their ability to focus on enhancing overall talent acquisition and management strategies.

Inefficient use of internal resources not only leads to frustration but also diverts attention from more strategic initiatives. A well-oiled credentialing process should minimize the burden on your team, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks that drive your organization forward.

Improving Your Current Program

Even the best programs have room for improvement. By taking a proactive approach, you can fine-tune your credentialing process and ensure it continues to meet the evolving needs of your organization.

Analyzing the Current State

Before you can improve, you need to know where you currently stand. Conducting a thorough analysis of your existing credentialing process will help you identify gaps and inefficiencies. Look for areas where the process breaks down or where resources are being wasted.

This analysis should be data-driven. Use metrics and feedback to pinpoint the exact areas that need attention. Once you have a clear picture of the current state, you can develop a targeted plan to address these issues and make meaningful improvements.

Gathering Feedback from End-Users

Your end-users‌ — ‌those who interact with the credentialing process daily‌ — ‌are a goldmine of information. Understanding their pain points and areas for improvement can help you identify what’s working and what’s not. Regularly gathering feedback from these users ensures that your program remains user-friendly and effective.

Engage with your team and other stakeholders to get a sense of their experiences. Are there specific bottlenecks that cause delays? Are there parts of the process that seem unnecessary or overly complicated? By addressing these issues head-on, you can streamline your process and improve overall satisfaction.

Selecting a New Vendor

Sometimes, improving your credentialing process means partnering with a new vendor. But selecting the right one isn’t just about finding the cheapest option or the fastest turnaround time. It’s about finding a partner who understands your organizational goals and is committed to helping you achieve them.

The best vendors are those who are open to process improvement and customization. They should be willing to work with you to tailor their services to meet your specific needs. A strategic partnership with a vendor who shares your commitment to accuracy, efficiency, and quality can be a game-changer for your credentialing program.

Whether it’s improving your current program or selecting a new vendor, focus on the factors that truly matter‌ — ‌accuracy, efficiency, and strategic alignment. When you do, you’ll find that the value you create goes far beyond the balance sheet.

Want to learn more? Schedule a call with one of our background screening experts.