Approved and effective: 9/9/2020
Last reviewed and revised: 5/25/2021
Policy Brief & Purpose
This policy elaborates on the eligibility, approval, oversight, and potential termination of an account within TPN.health as they pertain to the status of the TPN.health user's license or certification (to be referred to in this document as "credential"). For the purposes of transparency, each TPN.health user will have access to the written policies of TPN.health pertaining to:
The impact of their credential status on their eligibility for TPN.health;
The repercussions of changes in their credential status; and
The manner in which TPN.health would intervene should a change in credential status be discovered.
Additional terms and limitations regarding accoutn status and changes therein NOT pertaining to credential status will be found in TPN.health's Terms of Service page.
Scope
This policy pertains to all individual TPN.health users with full access to the features of TPN.health.
Policies
Verification
To be eligible for TPN.health and gain access to the full set of features within, each user must hold an active credential to practice independently in accordance with the laws of the state(s) in which the user is credentialed. The credential must be active and in good standing as determined by the issuing body/governing board by which the credential was issued. The credential must allow for independent practice within the scope defined by each user's discipline.
Oversight
TPN requires that all credentialed practitioners remain actively credentialed and their credentials be kept in favorable standing by all pertinent professional boards. TPN.health will hold the pertinent professional boards as the ultimate authority in determining the standing of a professional credential.
Procedures
Credential Verification
Individuals interested in joining as a user of TPN.health will register via our signup page.
Applicants will provide as much information as possible when signing up
This signup represents the creation of a TPN.health profile and is immediately subject to the guidelines around TPN.health profiles.
New profiles will remain in pending status until it can be reviewed.
Once submitted, each profile is reviewed so that the credential(s) is/are verified as active and in good standing. Each profile will either be approved, denied, changes will be requested, or the profile can be set as "view only". Please see below for an explanation of these statuses
Approved: The credential was found to be active and in good standing and the profile was accepted as a TPN.health user.
Denied: The credential was found to be in poor standing, having been rescinded by a governing/issuing body.
Changes Requested: The profile is incomplete; TPN.health staff was unable to confirm the status of the credential in question. This may result from a credential/name mismatch, or the given name and/or credential could not be found.
View Only: An individual may wish to create a profile because they have an interest in browsing clinician profiles or attending CE events, but are not credentialed clinicians themselves. These individuals are set to view only, meaning they will not be visible in a clinician search and cannot accept clinical referrals.
Credential Oversight
Each new profile includes an expiration date associated with each credential. When the expiration date is met, TPN.health staff are notified and will review the status of each applicable credential with the appropriate governing board to ensure the credential remains active and in good standing.
Profiles with credentials that are active and in good standing will be updated by TPN.health staff with the most recent expiration date.
Profiles with credentials that are no longer active (i.e. lapsed) will be placed in view only status until the user can be contacted and informed of their credential status. The user will then have 30 days after outreach is made to correct the credential status issue with their board. If the credential issue is not resolved by that time, the profile will be deactivated.
Clinicians who are signing up for TPN.health who have lapsed/suspended licenses - and are signing up for TPN.health in order to access CE credit for the purposes of reinstating their license - should contact the clinical support team at [email protected] to communicate their needs and intent to bring their license(s) into good standing.
Such individuals will be set as "view only" until such time that the appropriate governing board restores the status of the applicable license(s) as valid.
The clinician will be responsible for contacting the clinical support team at [email protected] to communicate that their license(s) has been reinstated.
Once the applicable license(s) has/have been verified as active and in good standing, the TPN.health clinical team will approve the individual's profile.
Profiles with credentials that are no longer in good standing (i.e. rescinded by the pertinent board) will be deactivated and the user will be contacted with an explanation of the reason for deactivation.