Significantly Involved Provider (SIP)

Date of Publication:

7/26/2023

Definition:

A SIP is one who actively delivered care (based on clinical record entries) in either primary or consultative roles during the episodes of care that gave rise to the allegation, regardless of standard of care determination. Additional defining characteristics include providers that have the:

• Authority to start, stop or alter a course of treatment
• Authority to recommend to start, stop, or alter a course of treatment, or
• Responsibility to implement a plan of evaluation or treatment

Authority to recommend means that input was solicited and legitimate (i.e., the individual making the recommendation was acknowledged to have special expertise or other specific standing in the clinical issues). This term isn't meant to include the providers who had only peripheral, yet appropriate, patient interaction, nor those providers whose patient involvement was not reasonably related to the specific indications or allegations of sub-standard care and injury.