Dod Health Care

" The process of credentialing and privileging is central to ensuring that physicians who work in DOD military treatment facilities (MTF) have the appropriate credentials and clinical competence. After an Army physician allegedly shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood in November 2009, GAO was asked to examine DOD's physician credentialing and privileging requirements and whether MTFs are fully complying with those requirements. GAO examined the extent to which: (1) DOD ensures that physician credentialing and privileging requirements are consistent across the Military Health System (MHS), (2) Army MTFs are complying with Army's physician credentialing and privileging requirements, and (3) Army's existing oversight and physician credentialing and privileging requirements are sufficient to assure compliance and complete documentation. GAO reviewed DOD and service-level requirements and interviewed DOD and military service officials. Because Army has the largest staff of medical personnel, GAO reviewed a nongeneralizable sample of 150 physician credentials files-selected to include a variety of specialties-and interviewed staff at five Army MTFs selected based on size and location. "