Hospitals departmentalized by specialty should establish, support and sustain departments of family medicine. The department of family medicine should have all the rights, duties and responsibilities comparable to other specialty departments of the medical staff. It should have the right to recommend directly to the appropriate committee — typically the credentials committee — those privileges that fall within the scope of family medicine. The assent or approval of any other department should not be required. The ultimate responsibility for the granting of privileges remains with the hospital governing body or board of trustees. Exclusive rights to any particular privileges for family physicians must be recommended by the department of family medicine in departmentalized hospitals. (1997) (September 2024 COD)