| It's a well known fact that medical peer review | | | | sub-specialty areas as well as allied group of board |
| inside hospital and medical groups is at best | | | | certified active practice licensed physicians. The |
| complicated and at worst highly conflictive in | | | | independent review organization can quickly match |
| terms of its outcomes. Medical peer review is | | | | a specific peer review case with a specialty or |
| inherently a broken process that can lead to | | | | subspecialty from its own panel and assure that |
| conflicts of interest in many cases. As a result, | | | | the specialist that is reviewing the case materials |
| medical peer review frequently does not get done | | | | is not engaged in any conflict of interest situation. |
| or gets swept under the rug in hospital | | | | Oftentimes panels are made up of specialists |
| environments. | | | | from across the country so it's very easy for an |
| Why is this conflict of interest so great? Most | | | | IRO to select a specialist from a different state |
| hospitals don't have much depth of knowledge in | | | | where this is no possibility that there's a conflict. |
| each specific specialty area, and often, the | | | | Secondly, all the cases are done completely |
| physicians on a peer review panel who are in the | | | | anonymously and as a result of this, a peer |
| best position to evaluate their colleagues are | | | | specialist on an IRO panel is able to maintain |
| conflicted by either friendship or competitive | | | | anonymity and therefore provide a high level of |
| forces to make a determination that is not | | | | objectivity in their case review. |
| completely based upon the medical fact involved | | | | Hospitals that are looking to improve the quality |
| in the case. As a result, conflict of interest is one | | | | of care improve patient's safety and deal with |
| of the most difficult aspects to overcome when | | | | sentinel events and negative outcomes on a more |
| rendering effective peer reviews in a hospital | | | | expeditious and efficient basis are using IROs to |
| environment. Most risk and quality managers in | | | | provide outsourced hospital peer review. We have |
| the hospital environment understand this fact, and | | | | dozens of clients, including hospitals from the |
| an increasing number of them are turning to an | | | | largest medical groups in the United States, which |
| independent review organization to provide | | | | are now adopting this as a best practice. Most of |
| hospital peer reviews on an outsourced basis. | | | | the hospitals that we initially dealt with for the |
| Outsourcing to a third party IRO immediate | | | | first time were in very sensitive situations where |
| eliminates any the conflict of interest and it | | | | they were already in litigation over a specific issue |
| speeds up case resolution. Why? First of all, the | | | | of a bad outcome related to a physician |
| independent review organization can deploy a | | | | misdiagnosis or mistreatment. |
| panel of specialists of all specialty and | | | | |