Information about practitioners’ scope of practice can now be held on The Private Practice Register (The PPR), one of a number of updates that Healthcode has made to its pioneering information hub for the independent healthcare sector which now includes more than 20,000 practitioner profiles.

The latest version of The PPR helps hospitals and their practitioners comply with the Medical Practitioners Assessment Framework (MPAF) in relation to management of practising privileges. Launched in October 2019 the MPAF has been adopted by private hospitals and considered as evidence of good governance by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The addition of scope of practice information for GMC-registered practitioners is a significant step towards Healthcode’s target of aligning The PPR with the MPAF principles to support quality assurance and help practitioners maintain their practising privileges.

New features added to The PPR are:

• Appraisal information – practitioners have an option to upload details of their appraiser, the appraisal period, summary, Personal Development Plan and full appraisal.
• Scope of practice information – CCSD-coded procedures performed by the practitioner, the number of times they were carried out at each site over a 12-month rolling period, and the last time the procedure was recorded. Users can drill down to see patient age groups for the procedure. This information is automatically captured from validated hospital bills submitted through Healthcode’s Clearing Service where the practitioner was identified by the hospital as the lead practitioner. If multiple procedures are undertaken by more than one practitioner during the same theatre session, the hospital will allocate one lead practitioner to all the procedures. This information is only visible to the practitioner and hospitals where the practitioner holds practising privileges and who have a subscription to The PPR.
• An improved layout for the Fitness to Practise section to make it easier for users to record and access relevant information.

Healthcode’s Head of External Affairs & Stakeholder Engagement, Fiona Booth, said: “We’re delighted to launch the next phase in Healthcode’s ambitious roadmap for The Private Practice Register (The PPR). The new features are an efficient way for practitioners to share evidence of their current appraisal and scope of practice with hospitals in order to maintain their practising privileges and potentially increase referral rates. It will also support hospitals in adapting to the demands of MPAF and demonstrating effective and consistent clinical governance processes to CQC inspectors.

“The award-winning PPR demonstrates what can be achieved when technology meets original thinking. However, we have no intention of resting on our laurels: we will continue to enhance the capabilities of The PPR as an information resource which meets the needs of independent healthcare providers and underpins quality assurance within the sector.”