CMA recently submitted comments on the Joint Commission’s proposed “disruptive behavior” standard (LD.3.15). The proposed standard would require medical staff and hospital leaders to develop a single code of conduct applicable to the medical staff and all hospital personnel. This is a critical acknowledgement that there must be rules for handling disruptive behavior by anyone within the hospital organization, not just medical staff members.

Unfortunately, the proposed standard also seems to indicate that discipline of medical staff members for disruptive behavior would no longer be handled through the peer review process, but rather would be subject to a separate disciplinary process agreed to by the hospital and medical staff leaders. CMA told the Joint Commission, among other things, that medical staffs throughout the nation are already structured to police their own, and that medical staff peer review bodies must retain the authority to handle cases of disruptive physician behavior.

Contact: CMA’s legal information line, 415/882-5144 or legalinfo@cmanet.org.