In this episode of the Elevate Care podcast, host Nishan Sivathasan sits down with Terin Stamps, Vice President, Credentialing Solutions at AMN Healthcare, to explore how credentialing—often dismissed as a back-office paperwork function—can become a powerful competitive advantage for health systems. Terin draws on more than 15 years of healthcare operations experience to break down what credentialing actually encompasses, how automation and AI are reshaping the function, and why involving credentialing teams earlier in the contracting process leads to faster onboarding, fewer disruptions, and stronger patient safety outcomes. She also addresses how health systems can build crisis-ready credentialing playbooks and shares her outlook on where the space is headed over the next five years.
In this episode of the Elevate Care podcast, host Nishan Sivathasan sits down with Terin Stamps, Vice President, Credentialing Solutions at AMN Healthcare, to explore how credentialing—often dismissed as a back-office paperwork function—can become a powerful competitive advantage for health systems.
Terin draws on more than 15 years of healthcare operations experience to break down what credentialing actually encompasses, how automation and AI are reshaping the function, and why involving credentialing teams earlier in the contracting process leads to faster onboarding, fewer disruptions, and stronger patient safety outcomes. She also addresses how health systems can build crisis-ready credentialing playbooks and shares her outlook on where the space is headed over the next five years.
About Terin Stamps
Terin Stamps is the Vice President of Credentialing Solutions at AMN Healthcare, a role she has held for three years. With over 15 years of healthcare operations experience, Terin previously served as an AVP at HCA Healthcare and has worked across three major health systems. Her team transforms what many perceive as a compliance-heavy administrative function into a strategic capability that drives growth readiness and patient safety. Terin is a passionate advocate for standardization, smart technology adoption, and the consultative role credentialing can—and should—play throughout the full workforce lifecycle.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction and Welcome
00:17 – Terin's Background and Role at AMN Healthcare
01:00 – What Is Credentialing? Breaking Down the Basics
02:42 – Federal, State, and Facility Requirements: Finding the Balance
03:27 – Credentialing as a Patient Safety Function, Not Just a Barrier
04:36 – How the Pandemic Changed Credentialing and Compliance
06:05 – Turning Credentialing into a Competitive Advantage
07:31 – The Impact of Streamlining: Faster Starts and Happier Clinicians
08:15 – The Role of Automation and AI in Modern Credentialing
09:22 – Building Technology That Flexes Without Creating Chaos
10:44 – Maintaining the Human Touch Alongside AI
10:44 – Credentialing in a Labor Disruption: Building Your Crisis Playbook
12:42 – Short-Term Fixes vs. Long-Term Credentialing Strategy
14:41 – What the Next 12 to 18 Months Look Like
13:36 – The Three-Year and Five-Year Outlook: Data Sharing and Strategic Integration
16:32 – AI Agents and the Future of Workforce Productivity in Healthcare
00:00:00:02 - 00:00:12:22
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Elevate Care podcast. The show where healthcare visionaries and professionals come together to explore the limitless possibilities of health care. I'm your host and the chance of arthurson. And I'd like to welcome Terin to the show. Terin, how are you doing?
00:00:13:00 - 00:00:14:15
Speaker 2
I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me.
00:00:14:19 - 00:00:17:03
Speaker 1
Can you share a little bit about your background with folks?
00:00:17:04 - 00:00:49:23
Speaker 2
Absolutely, sure. So I have just over 15 years of health care operations experience. Prior to and then I've been with three different pretty large health systems and operations, most recently with HCA as an AVP. I've been with Am and now three years as the VP of credentialing. And I think if I was to oversimplify what my team does, we pretty much take what looks like a heavy paperwork function, and we try to turn it into something that really helps our clients with growth readiness.
00:00:50:01 - 00:00:52:15
Speaker 2
And honestly, you know, patient safety.
00:00:52:17 - 00:01:00:16
Speaker 1
Know, a little bit before we dig into a little bit more about what your team does in the group, maybe explain what credentialing is. Just to start with the basics for folks.
00:01:00:17 - 00:01:22:23
Speaker 2
That's a good question. A lot of people have opinions on credentialing, but not many people know a lot about it. Sure. And there's a lot to that. So I think when you're speaking of credentialing specifically, you're really talking about standardized requirements is what we're looking for for, you know, depending on the role. And so each role's going to have what we would call your federal your state and then your facility level requirement.
00:01:22:23 - 00:01:43:09
Speaker 2
So we all know we can't get away from anything that the federal or state is asking for. Sure. Right. Such things such as licensure is a big one. Obviously, we want to make sure we're sending a clinician to the bedside with the correct license. So there's things such as license. Are they certified in, you know, their BLS card, their ACLs, various things like that.
00:01:43:11 - 00:02:10:03
Speaker 2
And then it can get deeper when you get into facility level. They might want specific onboarding type of functions like Cal Stream modules and things like that. So the reason I say it depends on what you're speaking of is because often credentialing is such a detail oriented role and department, you know, these team members are really good at validating documents, right at gathering items by given deadline, at monitoring if something is missing or expiring.
00:02:10:03 - 00:02:36:12
Speaker 2
So what can happen is you can get handed things that are more H.R or onboarding related. Okay, that are not credentialing specific. And the reason I wanted to call that out is because even if you do that, that's wonderful. You're good at your job, you're getting these extra tasks and you're benefiting the company. But if you don't have the technology to parse that out, it will really make your data noisy because you're not giving, you know, really accurate information on how long is it taking to credential.
00:02:36:16 - 00:02:42:03
Speaker 2
So when we say credential, we're talking about the items that are specific to that clinician for that role.
00:02:42:05 - 00:03:02:15
Speaker 1
So I love the distinctions. You talked about those federal those day. And then there was the facility. So it's an overly simplistic question. And if you say it depends that's okay. Yeah. But you know what percent of the credentialing requirements would you say that you're in your team do are specific to state and federal level versus facility? Is there a general rule of thumb?
00:03:02:17 - 00:03:14:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, probably 70, 30, 80, 20 kind of obviously, yes. It is going to depend upon the state. Sure. For sure there are going to be states that are more stringent than others. And so it can definitely be you know, there's some variability there.
00:03:14:11 - 00:03:27:01
Speaker 1
What I would say is credentialing typically is often an overlooked part of the workforce, but it's critical for patient safety, facility compliance and so forth. Sure. How would you describe its role today in health care's landscape?
00:03:27:03 - 00:03:44:23
Speaker 2
Absolutely critical. You know, it's unfortunate. I think sometimes credentialing is seen as a barrier. And I get that. It's because we're the gatekeeper, if you will. You know, do not pesco if you don't get through credentialing. So that can be frustrating, I think, for some people. But ultimately we you know, we do provide the service of patient safety and quality.
00:03:45:01 - 00:04:08:00
Speaker 2
So I think, you know, our role is is growing as from a compliance perspective. So here's what I would say for my team. What what we want to make sure that we think of that's important is we think of every vacancy from the client lens. Right. So yes, it can be a barrier, but we want to make sure that we have really tight practices, that we have efficiency, all of those types of things.
00:04:08:00 - 00:04:21:04
Speaker 2
Because what we don't want to do is contribute to the stressors of a health care system that really needs clinicians there. So I would say it's an important function, but I understand that we also have to be mindful of how it feels for the client.
00:04:21:09 - 00:04:36:16
Speaker 1
I actually think it's an enabler. But you can you can say gatekeeper takes. But all that said, how do you see credentialing and compliance maybe evolving over time or in recent years, have things changed coming out of the pandemic that we had several years ago, or. Yeah, they're less the same.
00:04:36:17 - 00:04:55:21
Speaker 2
Absolutely. No. I definitely think things have changed. I would say, probably two different areas. I think the first one is that people are interested in credentialing more. They do want to understand it. I think that executives are asking the questions, right. They're saying, what's taking us so long? Where are we stuck? You know what's happening. And so that's an important piece.
00:04:55:21 - 00:05:17:07
Speaker 2
And to solve for that part, I would say, you know, it's really, really important that you include credentialing in the broader workforce conversations because we need to be involved upstream before contract is signed. You know, oftentimes there will be a contract signed. And then on the back end, we find out that perhaps we've over under credentialed for a role which can be frustrating for a client.
00:05:17:07 - 00:05:37:12
Speaker 2
So I think there's a lot more seeking to understand. And then on the other side of that, from a compliance standpoint, I would say, you know, with health care staffing reform, we're going to continue to see change. And what that really means is more states are going to require a license to operate, and that means more audits. And so audit readiness is going to be a really big thing.
00:05:37:13 - 00:05:42:18
Speaker 1
So when you say more audits, like what's the current rate and pace of audits today versus what you anticipate? Sure.
00:05:42:20 - 00:05:58:20
Speaker 2
Well, states are coming into this more and more, every month. And so as, as a state comes in, you can bet that you're going to have at least twice a year audits, you know, give or take. And so it is again, as the as that progresses, then you're going to see that increase.
00:05:58:21 - 00:06:05:21
Speaker 1
What's the opportunity to take something like credentialing and compliance and turn it into a strategic unlock for an organization?
00:06:05:23 - 00:06:30:01
Speaker 2
Sure. I think I think it can definitely be a competitive advantage if you have predictable and fast credentialing. And I say that because credentialing is giving you what you need to onboard an individual. Right. And so we can really fill those gaps for you. So I think if you look at how can I standardize requirements, how can I make sure that I have accurate data, all of those types of things?
00:06:30:03 - 00:06:34:03
Speaker 2
Then you really can look at it from a competitive advantage as opposed to a barrier.
00:06:34:08 - 00:06:40:07
Speaker 1
Can you share an example of a health system that recently did so and unlock those opportunities?
00:06:40:10 - 00:06:58:11
Speaker 2
Sure. You know, we've we partner with multiple health systems here. So I won't say any names, but what I can tell you is the ones that that see the greatest advantages are those that really pay attention when it comes to the facility requirements. So our intention, you know, in credentialing is to be consultative. Obviously we want to hear from you.
00:06:58:11 - 00:07:20:21
Speaker 2
We want to provide whatever services you need. And my team and clients have heard me say this numerous times, and this is an over exaggeration. You know, if they want us to track somebody wearing a purple shirt on Tuesdays, we can do that. But should we? Probably not. Yeah. And so I think it's listening and understanding, like your facilities really do need to streamline and think about what you really want versus what is a nice to have.
00:07:20:23 - 00:07:31:15
Speaker 1
It's interesting. So the ones that maybe did the streamlining to your point, you know, were there any increases in utilization speed or just patient satisfaction. Any anything you maybe share?
00:07:31:17 - 00:07:50:09
Speaker 2
Sure. So we obviously you see less postponements. You see a higher, you know, percentage of on time starts. So it really is the speed component. You're able to get people through credentialing faster. Obviously less requirements. You're going to be you know, they're going to be faster. And then, you know, the voice of the clinician is very clear when it comes to credentialing.
00:07:50:09 - 00:08:08:03
Speaker 2
And that is they want it to be easy. You know, they're very busy individuals. They want us to be respectful of their time. And so to ask them to do five different things for the same health system, because they're going to a different hospital is very frustrating for them. And they talk. So that's not what you want when you're trying to gain travelers.
00:08:08:07 - 00:08:15:11
Speaker 1
Absolutely. You know, earlier you mentioned technology and its impact on the space. Anything in particular you can expand upon there?
00:08:15:13 - 00:08:43:08
Speaker 2
Absolutely. I would say there's multiple things. The first thing being automation, obviously, we want to have as many things automated as possible. And the point of that is we don't want to do the manual rework. We want to reduce any human, you know, intervention or risk of error. There's also the AI component, which can be utilized in a multitude of ways, you know, from things such as generating the emails towards, you know, the clinicians, things such as AI, document indexing is huge.
00:08:43:10 - 00:09:00:20
Speaker 2
And then honestly, just the overall tech platform for credentialing. It's really important that you invest there and that you you gain what you're really looking for. Which to me is you want to have the right rules engine that knows all those and or rules so that you can solve for those requirements in a, you know, more seamless way.
00:09:00:22 - 00:09:22:12
Speaker 1
You've talked about the need for flexibility in general, right? So to oversimplify it, for me, you could win a you could be in a health system that has 50 hospitals in each of those hospitals operates, you know, very differently from a credentialing standpoint. So how do you think about building the right level of flexibility into the technology and tools that you and your team use to support your selves on a day to day basis?
00:09:22:14 - 00:09:41:17
Speaker 2
Sure. So I think we run a lot of use cases for that reason. So, you know, every time we have looked at some type of new tech or enhancing the tech that we currently have, we run hundreds of use cases. So we really want our tech to to be able to flex. You know, down or up without chaos.
00:09:41:19 - 00:09:53:07
Speaker 2
And so that's really the important pieces. We know what our end to end processes. And we spend time there because we want to know at every stage gate what is taking long and why is that. And then that's the gap that we're going to solve for.
00:09:53:09 - 00:10:01:18
Speaker 1
So you mentioned I think everybody's talking about AI all the time. It's all the rage. How do you think about AI and its application in your space? Sure.
00:10:01:20 - 00:10:20:12
Speaker 2
We love it. We definitely want we want to utilize it in every way that we can. Now, I do think there's probably what everybody is thinking is how much is too much. And so I think for us, it's making sure that we maintain that human touch point with the clinician. We're not going to take away. Right. Being available for the clinician if they need it.
00:10:20:13 - 00:10:35:02
Speaker 2
We want to make sure that we can answer their questions and be a good support system. But what we want to take away is, is that paperwork heavy burden, right. We want AI to take that off of the case plate because a credentialing animal should really, really be working at the top of their skill set.
00:10:35:06 - 00:10:44:03
Speaker 1
Some talk to me about like situations such as a strike or a large labor disruption event. How to use credentialing? Jump in there and help support clients.
00:10:44:05 - 00:11:02:13
Speaker 2
Yes, those could be very stressful, but we we definitely take pride in that type of work. So really, here's what I would say. If you're a health system and you think that there is a possibility that you are going to encounter some type of labor disruption, that would be you need to understand what your crisis requirements are now.
00:11:02:15 - 00:11:29:08
Speaker 2
You do not want to be building that playbook in the middle of the crisis. So spend the time and understand what reduced requirements means to you. Sure. Right. There's the again, the things that we cannot go away from, from the state and federal standpoint. But what can you do without. I think it's really important that you meet with all of your stakeholders and you agree on what good looks like, because in a crisis, I mean, I'd love to tell you that, you know, everything's going to be perfect, but you need to be aligned with what good is.
00:11:29:10 - 00:11:34:02
Speaker 2
That way when you have to make quick decisions, then you can do just that.
00:11:34:04 - 00:11:46:05
Speaker 1
It almost sounds like, cyber security readiness a little bit. Right? So not if but when it's going to happen to everybody. So what what steps and precautions do you take ahead of time in advance of when that situation occurs? For you?
00:11:46:05 - 00:11:46:23
Speaker 2
Right.
00:11:47:01 - 00:11:59:13
Speaker 1
How do you see those of our clients that currently prep for those situations from a credentialing compliance standpoint, what maybe key changes you see them making or adjusting, anticipating a large disruptive event?
00:11:59:15 - 00:12:20:09
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's a good question. I would say a lot of the onboarding features. I mean, you're not going to take away those really, you know, core functions of credentialing, but do they really need to have 40 hours of modules in health stream to get them comfortable with your health system? Likely not. And so it's really looking at the things that are a huge risk for patient care.
00:12:20:09 - 00:12:26:15
Speaker 2
Right. And things that are going to have you audit ready. Anything outside of that really becomes noise in a labor disruption event.
00:12:26:21 - 00:12:40:18
Speaker 1
Interesting. And actually potentially ends up driving the right long term opportunities for streamlining. But you're only able to do it in that short window because for whatever reason, a facility like we have that desire for that training in compliance requirement. Is that fair?
00:12:40:19 - 00:12:41:22
Speaker 2
Yes. Oh, absolutely.
00:12:42:00 - 00:12:57:23
Speaker 1
I think your space is fascinating for a variety of different reasons. And things are always changing, evolving. What do you see changing? Maybe in the next 12 to 18 months and then take a three year horizon and a five, like how do you how do you see things evolving in the space in the coming years?
00:12:58:01 - 00:13:17:05
Speaker 2
So I would say 12 to 18 months. Again, health care staffing reform, I think we have to be watching for that consistently. I would also say tech, you're going to see, you know, more. I like I mentioned, you know, all of the automation. I just think there's going to be a lot more asks for technology to speed all of the processes within credentialing up.
00:13:17:07 - 00:13:36:13
Speaker 2
I also think probably more at that three year mark. We're going to start seeing how we can reuse data. One of the again, I would say from a clinician standpoint, frustrations for them. And I'll even go back to our scenario of I work for the same health system, I travel with the same system, but I'm going to go to all these various hospitals.
00:13:36:15 - 00:13:52:18
Speaker 2
How come I have to do these extra five things here, or this one over here, or how, you know, how come for whatever reason, you can't seem to get that same test result from a facility that I, I did it with. So I think really looking at how we can share data, obviously, you know, there's privacy to be considered.
00:13:52:20 - 00:13:59:07
Speaker 2
But to me if I was a clinician, I would like to not have to go to my tab three times because I changed agencies.
00:13:59:09 - 00:14:01:16
Speaker 1
I, I 100%. And then five years out.
00:14:01:16 - 00:14:26:12
Speaker 2
Five years out, I would say, man, that's a hard one. I would say that. I would say that we're going to end up being much more ingrained in full processes than we are now. And the reason I'm saying five years is because I've been here three, and it takes some time to get people comfortable with letting credentialing in to kind of that sales process.
00:14:26:14 - 00:14:41:04
Speaker 2
But I think in five years we're going to really be viewed as that competitive advantage, so that when you go and speak with the client, you bring somebody from credentialing and you're sharing all of these best practices and use cases in order to really gain that business.
00:14:41:06 - 00:14:56:21
Speaker 1
Now, a lot of it, it's a it's a critical path. So the earlier you bring that into the process, the more streamlined the downstream areas will be. Maybe the one final thing I'll ask you is, you know, there's a lot of push ups all for now, and it's hard for people to step back and take a look at the longer term perspective, our lens.
00:14:56:21 - 00:15:09:01
Speaker 1
Right. So what are some things that you would think to share with others out there? Would be it clients or otherwise, to say how they find the right balance between short term fixes and long term solutions.
00:15:09:03 - 00:15:29:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think it starts with thinking about credentialing. As you know, a core a core strategy really. So, you know, a short term fix is what it is. You are kind of slapping a Band-Aid on a larger problem. So I think taking the time again, I feel like this is kind of been the buzzword of standardization, but it's because it really is true.
00:15:29:22 - 00:15:52:07
Speaker 2
That is the biggest pain point. So to me, it is understanding where you can standardize requirements, making sure that you have appropriate data, that you have real time dashboards and status updates so that you understand where things are sitting in the process. And then I'm just going to say it again, I think it's important to have everybody aligned with what they want to see.
00:15:52:09 - 00:16:12:06
Speaker 2
You know what, if I'm trying to go to more of a permanent solution, I would excuse me. I would also be, you know, really asking, what roles do I need, what volume of roles do I need? You know, and just understanding for your path forward on really what you're trying to solve for from a service line perspective, as well, and then backing into what that means.
00:16:12:08 - 00:16:32:13
Speaker 1
Terrific. So I guess impact is broad and pervasive, to the point where you actually see or hear a lot of people talking about job redesign. Right? How do I deploy somebody, maybe with an AI agent working alongside of them to drive productivity? And that's that's early. It's more conversational, maybe in certain pockets and areas outside of health care.
00:16:32:13 - 00:16:52:02
Speaker 1
You probably see, a real application, on a day to day basis. Just how do you anticipate that impacting health care? And if and when it does, you can almost have it to be where you're deploying a clinician alongside agent one and two to drive productivity. And just maybe step me through that a little bit.
00:16:52:04 - 00:17:15:20
Speaker 2
I love it. I love everything about it. I think when you are looking at something that it's focuses so much risk adversity. The more help the better. That's just where credentialing is going to come from. I think anybody you ask would tell you that we audit to audit, to audit. And so anything that we can do that is going to work alongside us in any of those functions to me is better.
00:17:15:22 - 00:17:38:17
Speaker 2
We want to know if there is an issue immediately and in real time. We don't want to find that in and audit. Everything that we do needs to be proactive. So I can see that being of huge benefit. I think there's, you know, a time and a place for everything. We have a global workforce and credentialing, so much like that, you do have to decide what your skill sets are and what type of work needs to sit, where to gain the greatest efficiency and quality.
00:17:38:17 - 00:17:41:09
Speaker 2
And I'm sure that would be the case with that as well. Terrific.
00:17:41:15 - 00:17:44:13
Speaker 1
Well, thanks for joining us on the show here today. Appreciate your time, Terin.
00:17:44:16 - 00:56:16:19
Speaker 2
Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us today on Elevate Care. If you found this episode valuable, please consider sharing it with a colleague and subscribing to our show on your favorite podcast platform. You can learn more about this episode in our show on our website at AMN healthcare.com, and follow us on social media to stay updated on new episodes and the ever changing world of health care.
00:56:16:21 - 00:56:23:22
Speaker 2
Right.
00:56:24:00 - 00:56:44:18
Speaker 2
Thank you for joining us today on Elevate Care. If you found this episode valuable, please consider sharing it with a colleague and subscribing to our show on your favorite podcast platform. You can learn more about this episode in our show on our website at Am and healthcare.com, and follow us on social media to stay updated on new episodes and the ever changing world of health care.