Using Your Credentialing Software to Investigate Misconduct

Suspending a credential holder or revoking a credential is serious business, and it comes with many ramifications, including potential income loss and damage to the professional standing of the credential holder. As such, the investigation and decision process needs to be handled with the utmost care, ensuring fairness, transparency, and compliance with legal and ethical standards.

Establishing a robust process for investigating and managing such actions is crucial for maintaining the integrity of your organization and the trust of your credential holders.

Organizations must be prepared to handle instances of misconduct effectively, even if they have never encountered such situations before. This is not only a proactive measure, but a critical component of risk management. That means ensuring all of your actions are well-documented, compliant with established policies, and free from bias or discrimination.

The best practices for handling these situations include:

• Clear policies and procedures
• Due process
• Consistent policy application
• Confidentiality
• An available appeal process

Within these best practices, there are many important things to track along the way: communication logs, meeting notes and decisions, appeal request dates and outcomes, and compliance history, to name a few. The list can be overwhelming, but the good news is that your credentialing management platform can be used as a tool to help implement those best practices.

Credentialing Software’s Role in Managing Investigations

Most credentialing management systems will have the ability to assist in credential holder investigations; ROC-P’s native tracking and communication functions make it particularly adaptable to this type of work.

How can your platform help manage the specialize tasks that go into investigation best practices?

Forms and Applications

• Misconduct Forms: You should have the ability to create misconduct reporting forms that anyone with portal access can use to report professional misconduct by a credential holder.
• Appeal Applications: Your platform should allow credential holders to apply for an appeal through a dedicated application or form. 

Tracking & Logging

• Communications: Your credentialing management system must track all communications between the credential holder and the organization when conducted within the system. It should also allow administrators and staff to add notes about the case for revocation, which can be shared with the credential holder or stored for internal use.
• Actions: All actions taken in your platform should be tracked by an audit log, detailing what actions were taken, by whom, and when.
• Timelines: Administrators must ensure timely attention to investigations and appeals by tracking application submittal dates and steps along the way within the review process. 

Document Management 

• Resource Library: Your credentialing management system should have a resource library where admins can provide easy access to your policies and procedures, for full transparency.
• Uploading Documents: Credential holders should be able to upload supporting and appeal documentation through applications or forms, which are then stored with the application/form and in the user’s profile. Admins and staff should also be able to upload documents, including warning and sanction documentation, to a user’s profile.

Workflows and Review 

• Investigative Process Workflows: Your credentialing software should support the creation of tailored workflows for the investigative process, including the assigning of reviewers to review applications, forms, and documents.
• Voting: Voting on a misconduct application or form should be conducted through your management platform. 

Credential Status Management 

• Credential Holder Status Changes: Your system should enable the creation and management of credential statues like "on-hold," "suspended," or "probation," which limit what the credential holder can do in the system.
• Attribute Functions: You should be able to use attributes to tag individuals, create workflows for automation, grant or restrict system access, and generate reports. Possible attributes may include "Pending Investigation," "Credential Suspended - Pending Hearing," "Disbarred," "Credential on Probation," "Strike 1 - Warning Issued," and "Strike Count: 1." Reports can be run on status and attributes to monitor and manage the investigation process.

Board and Committee Work 

• Meeting Management: Your platform should support the work of your board and committees, who will often be asked to decide on the status of investigated credential holders. ROC-P’s Board and Committee Module allows for the adding of agenda items, notes, and documentation for board discussions, and tracking board minutes and decisions.
  
  

The Risks of Not Using Credentialing Software for Investigations

Just as there are many benefits to using your credentialing management platform to track and guide credential holder investigations, there are sizable risks to doing it manually or without a uniform structure. Those include:

• Inconsistency: Running your investigation this way increases the risk of inconsistent application of policies, opening your organization to charges of bias and unfairness.
• Lack of Transparency: Manual investigations make it harder to maintain transparency, which can erode trust and accountability.
• Inefficiency: Operating without a proven investigation framework is more cumbersome and time-consuming for staff, who are likely already facing resource and time limits.
• Inadequate Documentation: Relying on manual work leads to poor documentation, which can cause legal and compliance issues.
• Security Risks: Working outside of a secured system increases the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive information.
  
  

The Benefits of Using ROC-P to Manage Credential Investigations 

• Efficiency: Automates routine tasks within an investigation workflow, ensuring timely completion of all steps in the process.
• Transparency: Provides clear documentation and audit trails of all actions taken.
• Compliance: Ensures adherence to policies and legal standards.
• Data Security: Protects sensitive information through secure access controls.
• Consistency: Ensures uniform application of policies across all credential holders.
• Detailed Reporting: Offers comprehensive reports to monitor and improve the investigation process.
• Support for Appeals: Manages appeal requests and tracks outcomes to ensure fairness.