Purpose(s) 

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that users of the InPlace Care service platform  provide quality, safe health services through the presentation  of appropriately qualified and skilled independent contractors. The processes of credentialing and defining scope of clinical practice are integral to the fulfillment of our clinical governance responsibilities. 

 

Policy Statement 

InPlace Care is committed to ensuring the independent personnel / service providers it allows to use the InPlace Care Service Platform are appropriately credentialed and have their scope of clinical practice defined. Credentialing and defining the scope of practice will occur at initial registration, however each Client bears the ultimate responsibility to check the credentials of each carer worker they engage before they start work.

 

Scope : Organisation wide

 

Target Audience 

All carers using the InPlace Care service platform to offer their services to Clients and the Clients who will review their credentials and scope of practice.

 

Definitions 

  1. Certification: Certification is a term that has been used to describe the process of verifying the truth of an individual’s assertion of qualification. 

  2. Clinical Governance: The systems by which the governing body, managers and clinicians share responsibility and are held accountable for patient or client care, minimising risks to consumers, and for continuously monitoring and improving the quality of clinical care. 
     
  3. Clinical Practice: The professional activity undertaken by a health care professional relating directly to patient care. 
     
  4. Credentials: Credentials are the background and experience an applicant presents for consideration when applying either for direct employment or as a contractor and typically include professional education and degrees, professional registration and accreditation, work history, references and health status. 
     
  5. Credentialing: Credentialing is the formal process used to verify the qualifications, experience, professional standing and other relevant professional attributes of practitioners for the purpose of forming a view about their competence, performance and professional suitability to provide safe, high quality health care services within specific organisational environments. 
                                                                                     
  6. Competence: The demonstrated ability to provide health care services at an appropriate level of safety and quality  

  7. Defining the Scope of Clinical Practice: Defining the scope of clinical practice follows on from credentialing and involves delineating the extent of an individual practitioner’s clinical practice within a particular organisation based on the individual’s credentials, competence, performance and professional suitability and the needs and the capacity of the organisation to support the practitioner’s scope of clinical practice. The terms defining the scope of clinical practice and clinical privileging are often used interchangeably. 
     
  8. Registration: Professional registration determined by a registering authority that determines the criteria for entry to a professional body, set, uphold and enforce standards of practice (including codes of conduct and ethics) and identifies conditions that lead to entry and exit from the profession. 

 

Responsibility Individual 

The individual health care professional has a responsibility to ensure: 

  • They have the appropriate credentials for their position and provide evidence (e.g. registration) onto the Service Platform
  • They deliver health care as per their credentialing and individually defined scope of clinical practice 
  • They notify management of any change to the status of their registration or any event/situation that may affect their ability to practice 

Clients

Each client is responsible for ensuring that all health care professionals they engage through the InPlace Care Service Platform: 

  • are appropriately credentialed and have provided evidence (including registration) upon the Service Platform
  • only deliver care within their defined scope of practice 

Recruitment 

The Recruitment department is responsible for the storing of individual registration and qualification records in both staff and carer files in accordance with relevant legislation. 

 

The InPlace Care platform will manage as a central organizational wide register of contractor registrations and qualifications, as these are submitted by each worker independently, InPlace Care bears no responsibility in the accuracy of the data.  

 

Key Legislation, Acts & Standards 

  • Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care.  
  • Standard for Credentialing and Defining the Scope of Clinical Practice. Canberra July 2004 Department of Human Services 
  • Victorian Health Professions Registration Act 2005 and the Health Professionals Registration Amendment Act 2007 (Vic)