FPPE and OPPE

The UNM Locum Tenens and Specialty Extension Services Program has started a process of Focused and Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE and OPPE).

Completing FPPE and OPPEs for Locum providers can be a bit challenging since they generally do not work within our organization but work for outside organizations and are not working at any one site on a continuous basis.

However, we have developed a process that we think will work and began implementation in the summer of 2015.

The process will involve calling a site at which a provider has worked in the past 6 months and speaking to the clinicians at that clinic. This will most likely be the medical director or a clinician in the same specialty with the same level of license. For example when evaluating a LT/SES dentist, it would be best to talk to another dentist. Each provider will be evaluated every six months if they are active in LT/SES. Once an OPPE has been completed, the clinician will be informed of the outcome.

An example of the difficulty involved in evaluating a LT/SES provider has to do with the nature of the OPPE form which includes items like “Team Based Practice”. Ideally, clinicians should be able to improve the quality of care provided in a clinic through team based practice. This is not easy for a LT/SES provider who is only at the site for a short time. We cannot remove the item but we do understand that there is not much that a LT/SES clinician can do in this area.

We want to make this as simple and effective as possible. As we struggle to make this work, we are very open to suggestions from the front line LT/SES clinicians as well as our contracted sites. A copy of the OPPE review form can be found on the right column of this page, as well as a copy of the official procedures.