Challenges of including dietitians, nurses, occupational therapists, and pharmacists in the federal credentialing program

Abstract

Credentialing and recredentialing of federal health care providers involves hundreds of hours of labor and associated costs. This article presents the history of credentialing and efforts to expand the Federal Credentialing Program to include dietitians, nurses, occupational therapists, and pharmacists and discusses barriers to this possible expansion. Representatives from federal and civilian health care service delivery agencies and credentialing and licensure bodies will gather to establish common credentialing information for these professions. Discussing barriers to these efforts will help to ensure success. In addition, a more efficient and streamlined system could easily be adopted by the civilian sector for these professions.