Recently, I was invited to attend a meeting with the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (NAHPC) focused on mental health and substance use care. The meeting included stakeholders from around Maryland that are participating in a nationally funded initiative to improve health care and close the gaps in care that employers are seeing in their workforce. My invitation was directly related to the work URAC has been doing on Integrated Behavioral Health and our new work on Mental Health Parity.

Formerly CHQI’s Telemedicine Accreditation Program (TAP) v2.1, we are pleased to announce that the publications are now available for URAC’s Telehealth Accreditation v2.2 program. Product Development, in consultation with URAC CEO Shawn Griffin, MD and Karen Watts, Vice President, Accreditation and Client Services, elected to make rebranding modifications and minor edits to the program acquired as part of the CHQI asset purchase.

As you’re aware, URAC started the new year with the purchase of CHQI’s telemedicine and Mental Health/Substance Use Disorder Parity (Parity) products. The purchase of these products marked a concerted effort to expand our footprint in two areas that are vital to the future of care delivery in America.

For the past 30 years, URAC has worked hard to provide the gold standard of accreditation. We believe our process demonstrates a commitment to quality services and serves as a framework for organizations to protect patients and save lives.

For those who have started their journey in January, we are excited to begin down this path with them and also offer our congratulations to all the organizations who received accreditation and reaccreditation this month:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Josh Spofford, URAC's Quality Manager.

We are off to a huge start this year – new programs, a new space and new clients to serve! Many of you heard about the exciting changes we have been working on as 2019 ended and the launch of our newest programs to kick off January.

After a great deal of collaboration and hard work from many of our staff, we are excited to announce the launch of URAC’s Rare Disease Pharmacy Center of Excellence Designation program.

In 2019, three Pharmacy Accreditation Reviewers pursued and achieved significant certifications. Dan Bramy and Heather Valiton are now “Certified Specialty Pharmacists.” This certification, offered by the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP), is the only certification specifically designed to validate professional experience and expertise in Specialty Pharmacy. 

For the past 30 years, URAC has worked hard to provide the gold standard of accreditation. We believe our process demonstrates a commitment to quality services and serves as a framework for organizations to protect patients and save lives.

For those who have started their journey in December, we are excited to begin down this path with them and also offer our congratulations to all the organizations who received accreditation and reaccreditation this month:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Donna Merrick, URAC's Product Enhancement Principal.

I want you all to know how thankful I am for the work that you do and the progress we are making as a group. I’ve said it many times, but I believe URAC can change health care for the better across the country and the world.

As I reflect on 2019 and URAC’s product development accomplishments, I am constantly amazed that we are fewer than 60 employees strong!

As we enter the holiday season, a word of caution on keeping your data safe as you travel. Remember that your phone probably holds more personal information than your wallet or even your PC! The following will help to keep your data safe while traveling.

Can you believe we’ve almost made it to the end of the year?

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about all that’s been going on at the Hill the past few months because it’s taken over the news cycle, but I did want to mention a few things that I myself am keeping an eye on.

For the past 30 years, URAC has worked hard to provide the gold standard of accreditation. We believe our process demonstrates a commitment to quality services and serves as a framework for organizations to protect patients and save lives.

For those who have started their journey in November, we are excited to begin down this path with them and also offer our congratulations to all the organizations who received accreditation and reaccreditation this month:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's John Greene, URAC's Director of Human Resources.

We finally have some fall weather in DC. The leaves are starting to change, the nights are getting cooler and I’m starting to wonder if I remember how to scrape frost off my windshield. By the time this comes out, the World Series will be settled and either my new city – DC – or my old city – Houston – will be celebrating (I’ll buy a shirt to brag either way). Luckily there is no NFL in DC to distract us.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) will be at URAC’s office the first week of December 2019 to evaluate URAC’s Medicare Home Infusion Therapy Supplier (MHITS) program in pursuit of being identified as a deemed accreditor in early 2020. CMS will be onsite beginning Monday, December 2nd through Thursday, December 5th. While we anticipate a successful review, preparation is key.

Flu season is upon us, with all its coughing, fevers, sore throats and runny noses. The typical flu season lasts from fall to early spring, but the length and severity of an epidemic may vary, as the dominant strains of flu change from year to year. Some lucky individuals can get through the season flu-free, but be prepared to be surrounded by sneezing and coughing for a few months out of every year.

Like our clients, URAC has an opportunity to continually evaluate our organizational policies and processes for relevance and areas for potential improvement. To that end, we’re changing the titles of our Account Managers to Client Relations Managers.

For the past 30 years, URAC has worked hard to provide the gold standard of accreditation. We believe our process demonstrates a commitment to quality services and serves as a framework for organizations to protect patients and save lives.

September's new business sales set an all-time URAC record for monthly sales, with $1,046,050 in new business. This was the single largest month URAC has ever had for New Business Sales. In addition to new business, we also accomplished another $97,500 in Upsells as well as $1,203,678 in Renewals. It was a stellar month for all categories, and we congratulate and thank everyone for their efforts.

For those who have started their journey in October, we are excited to begin down this path with them and also offer our congratulations to all the organizations who received accreditation and reaccreditation this month:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Bryan McGann, one of URAC's Accreditation Reviewers.

“Surprise billing” occurs when a patient unknowingly receives care from a provider outside of their insurance network and the provider subsequently bills the patient for the amount not covered by their insurer. As many states have acted to hold patients harmless – which means that the patient is not liable for the billed amount – Congress continues to debate the best approach to resolve this issue for federally regulated insurance markets.

In an effort to streamline and simplify URAC’s scoring approach across accreditation programs, the Quality, Research, and Measurement (QR&M) team embarked on a project to discover the simplest approach to accreditation scoring while maintaining accuracy and rigor. Through the engagement of a professional statistician, robust methods were used to approximate a “true and real” application review score and compare it to seven unique scenarios that were then tested using four methods of score calculation.

If you’ve visited our website over the past few weeks, you may have noticed a new button showing up on a few pages. In early September, the Marketing and Sales department started rolling out a new feature on our Product and Contact pages – a Request a Quote button.

Recently, several new privacy laws that will affect our business have been implemented. One is from the European Union (“EU”) and the other, from California, is modeled on the EU law. 

We’d like to take a moment to get all of you thinking about your preparedness for an emergency.  We’ve been researching disaster preparation for the business this year but being prepared in your own home and discussing these plans with your family is even more important.

For the past 30 years, URAC has worked hard to provide the gold standard of accreditation. We believe our process demonstrates a commitment to quality services and serves as a framework for organizations to protect patients and save lives. We are excited to start on this journey with our new business contracts and also offer our congratulations to all the organizations who received accreditation and reaccreditation this month:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Sarata Kabore, URAC's Accounting Manager.

One of my favorite things about working in DC is the morning drive in from Alexandria. That may sound strange to some of you, but I spent about 10 years driving in Houston with very little to see except more traffic. One of the things I see as I drive in is the scaffolding on the Jefferson Memorial and I noticed that some of the dome on the memorial looks cleaner than the rest. I saw an interesting story on the local news a few nights ago about the process that they are using to clean the dome.

Health care was a primary interest among voters in the 2016 and 2018 elections, as concerns about access and costs continued to grow. If you’ve been brave, or foolish, enough to follow the political campaigns underway for the 2020 election you’ve likely noticed that health care continues to be a focal point in our politics. Alongside the ongoing debate about the future of the Affordable Care Act, there has been a new development in the  debate about drug prices.

As you are probably aware, the schedule for the implementation of the new AccreditNet 3.0 system has been in a “yellow” status for several months. This is due to slower data migration between two different database structures, and a need to simply workflows, build additional functionality, and refine and document all decisions for feedback from staff.

For the past 30 years, URAC has worked hard to provide the gold standard of accreditation. We believe our process demonstrates a commitment to quality services and serves as a framework for organizations to protect patients and save lives. We are excited to start on this journey with our new business contracts and also offer our congratulations to all the organizations who received accreditation this month:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Steve Krehbiel, URAC's I.T. Manager and Information Security Officer.

August 6^th marks six months since I joined URAC. To some of you that may seem like I just showed up a week ago and others may believe I have been here ten years, but the calendar does not lie. There have been many changes since I joined the team and we are not done yet.

We know you’re busy and URAC has invested in the Advisory Board membership to save you time.

Federal and state lawmakers and regulators are pushing to keep up with the legal framework of using adopting digital health as part of care coordination and the move to value-based payment in health care. Such efforts are resulting in coverage of telehealth and virtual care services.  

It’s important to revisit your tax withholding, especially if major changes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affected the size of your refund this year. Even if you did a Paycheck Checkup last year, you should do it again to account for differences from TCJA or life changes. A Paycheck Checkup can help you see if you’re withholding the right amount of tax from your paycheck. Too little could mean an unexpected tax bill or penalty. You can use the Withholding Calculator found on www.irs.gov.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Heather Valiton, one of URAC's Pharmacy Accreditation Reviewers.

When you or any other normal person thinks of summer, images of cookouts, fireworks and fun by the pool probably spring to mind.

The world is changing – and that even includes the arcane world of physician board certifications.

As part of our research for the revamp of our business continuity plan, we realized that we wanted to enhance our ability to communicate with our staff.

Here at URAC, we're doing a lot to increase our visibility recently, which includes writing many of articles, social media posts, and press releases. You may know that we follow AP style, but in our writing we have wavered back and forth between using "health care" or "healthcare". So which is it?

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Bruce Karns, one of URAC's Pharmacy Accreditation Reviewers.

This will be my first summer in DC. I can’t say that I am looking forward to the heat, humidity, or tourists, but I spent almost a decade in Houston, so it can’t be MUCH worse. June will also mark the high school graduation of my youngest, Jonathan. After that graduation, my wife and two of our boys will move up from Charlotte and I will get to have us all together again for the summer. My family has always been incredibly important to me and I’m told that my face lights up when I talk about them. It has been hard to be away from my wife and sons for these four months, but I really believe the work we are doing at URAC is worth it.

So, what’s new in GR? Everything. (Half kidding)

After a great deal of collaboration and hard work from many of our staff, we are excited to announce the launch of URAC’s Home Infusion Therapy Supplier accreditation program. As Dr. Griffin states in his introductory letter for HITS, “Patient demand and improvements in safety have initiated the growth of infusion therapy in alternative settings, including outpatient centers and patients’ homes.”

For those of you that aren’t aware, CMS posted the final notice awarding URAC deemed authority for Medicare Advantage in May. The renewal is effective May 31, 2019 – June 2, 2025 which is the standard 6-year period.

You’ll recall that I’ve mentioned our focus on promoting many new ideas to external stakeholders to better measure industry interest on new URAC products that improve quality and value for patients before we “build them out.” These are typically proposed due to strong interest or newsworthiness on a topic. Not all of these ideas will become products, but some will.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Heidy Davis, one of URAC's Pharmacy Accreditation Reviewers.

As a recap, URAC made the decision early in 2018 to replace the current accreditation system, AccreditNet 2.0, which was first implemented in 2015. Issues with the current system include functionality limitations, vendor dependence and cost, as well as poor customer feedback.  A Dulles, Virginia based vendor, ARMATURE, and their Fabric™ product was selected as the replacement and the project kicked off in October 2018. The new system will be replacing not only the AccreditNet 2.0 product but providing functionality to support the annual submission of measures by our clients in compliance with the URAC Quality process. 

This past month, URAC hosted the second annual Telemed Leadership Forum, which attracted over 120 attendees, including policy leaders, provider groups, telehealth providers, and hospitals and health systems. Our first two keynote speakers on the first day were a big draw, featuring Brendan Carr, Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), followed by Laura McWright, Deputy Director of the Seamless Care Models Group, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

As both an attorney and a nurse, I am honored to work with such a group of dedicated individuals at URAC whose collective goal is the improvement of quality in the healthcare industry. URAC’s Accreditation and Certification Programs, whether a Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation or a Telehealth Accreditation, strive not only to improve quality in healthcare but also to protect the consumer who is on the receiving end of the healthcare delivery. Our goal is to be a leader in healthcare accreditation and to improve consumer protection. URAC’s Legal and Compliance Department strives to aid each and every employee at URAC in attaining the goal of consumer protection. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Dan Bramy, one of URAC's Pharmacy Accreditation Reviewers.

This is my first April in DC. As I write this, the cherry blossoms are about to “pop” around the city and a few of the early trees are already looking like popcorn. Baseball season is about to start and everyone is seeing the end of the cold weather. It’s an exciting time for me in DC, although I miss my family.

We've just posted the 2018 Year in Review on The URAC Report. You can also download it on this URL: https://www.urac.org/sites/default/files/2019-03/URACYearinReview2018_0.pdf

Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to connect with some key experts in the field of medication temperature management. We have created a “core foursome” of collaborators who want to bring forward quality practices for appropriate temperature management of medications.

Yes, you heard it here first – all programs will be republished in the new format in Adobe InDesign and will include updates to program guides.

According to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, there are over 30,000 new products introduced every year, and 95 percent fail. To develop, launch and gain adoption of a successful product requires the perfect formula of innovation, perspiration, calculation and luck.

I am pleased to announce that we have launched a Business Continuity Planning Committee. The primary goal of this committee is to update our existing business continuity plan to reflect current business processes and departmental needs. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Tanya Bennett, one of URAC's Accreditation Reviewers.

It hasn’t even been a full month since my first day as the CEO (feels longer doesn’t it?). I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for welcoming me to the URAC family and helping me as I come on board. Although the daily work can sometimes distract from the bigger purpose, URAC gives each of us the opportunity to improve the healthcare for people across the nation and for our loved ones.

In February, the URAC Board approved development of a new accreditation addressing home infusion therapy. The program is an important step for URAC as we build on our success with specialty pharmacy accreditation.

Letting your co-workers know when you will be out of the office is an invaluable courtesy; one that should never be overlooked. Whether for vacation, sick time, a conference or other work-related travel, letting folks know where you are and when you will return is important. Memories are short and scheduling a meeting only to find out that you are out of the office is very annoying. Below are a few tips that will open communication between you, your team and your clients.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Judy Kerr, one of URAC's Accreditation Reviewers.

Hello! I’m the new person in the office. I think we will have a chance to learn more about each other over the next few weeks, but, just to make things easy, I’ll go first.

But first, a quick recap of the PQM^® program changes made in 2018.

With the release of Community Pharmacy v2.0 in August 2018, all pharmacy programs now include a version of the Core module.

By now you all have probably heard that the partial federal government shutdown has ended. It lasted a whopping 35 days and is the longest shutdown in modern history. Roughly a quarter of the government was affected with federal government employees and contractors either being furloughed (not working and not getting paid) or operating as essential personnel (having to work without getting paid). While there is a deal in place for federal workers to receive the compensation they lost over this period, contractors are unfortunately not a part of it.

It's been almost a year since we launched URAC's new website. In case you've forgotten what the old website looked like, there's a screen shot of the old home page at the end of this article. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Nicole Haggins, URAC's Application Support Specialist.

As the year ends, we at URAC have much for which we can be proud.  2018 was another year of strong financial performance.  We will finish the year with a strong operating margin, achieving the highest revenue in our history.  While we continue to be challenged by a significant lag in new business sales, our management of the organization resulted in our achievement of other financial goals.

We're excited to announce that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will deliver the first keynote at the Telemed Leadership Forum 2019. The second keynote will be Laura McWright, deputy director of the Seamless Care Models Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

I’m sure most of you heard about a recent ruling by a federal judge in Texas declaring the ACA is unconstitutional. As part of his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional because it is no longer a tax following its repeal roughly a year ago as part of the GOP’s tax legislation.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Lauren Hammett, URAC's Product Development Associate.

Have you scheduled a medical appointment online? Or perhaps, you Googled “CareFirst.com” to identify in-network internal medicine physicians within five miles of home. When making an inquiry or appointment, what communication channel did you use: self-service, online chat, email, or text? Or did you resort to voice communication? Can you recall your experience? Was it easy to use? If you used more than one channel, did the various channels create a seamless experience? How did you feel about the company after the transaction? Did your experience strengthen your loyalty to the organization or did you feel dissatisfied and ready to seek an alternative?   

I was recently introduced to chislic. If you’re not familiar with chislic, it’s cubed and deep fried red meat, an iconic staple found only in South Dakota. There was a saucer-sized plate of the stuff in front of me at a family restaurant in downtown Sioux Falls. I had reservations there with my contact at Avera eCare on November 8.

You are not only the first line of defense for ensuring the security of URAC’s systems, data and network, you are also its weakest link.  We are human and we all make mistakes, however there are cyber-criminals constantly not only enticing but counting on you to make a mistake so that they can take advantage.  The most vulnerable point of entry for these hackers to invade the URAC network is through our email system.  

CMS recently issued a mandated report to Congress entitled Information on Medicare Telehealth that in part, provides information on the utilization of telehealth services and discusses barriers to expand its use in Medicare. CMS notes that telehealth use has increased, is rather beneficial for patients with behavioral health and/or chronic conditions and has the potential to “improve access to care, reduce costs, and enhance patient satisfaction.” But, and unfortunately with telehealth, there always seems to be some sort of ‘but’; our good ol’ government is impeding use, which is why adoption remains relatively low.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Anita Uwadia, URAC's Quality and Research Associate.

We are part of a globally connected industry and environment in which customers are empowered to speak out about what they expect from the companies they choose to support, recommend and trust. Our job vis-à-vis risk is to recognize our current environment, anticipate what’s ahead, uphold our reputation, and improve business performance.

URAC's latest Industry Insight Report, Accelerating Telehealth Adoption: Telemedicine's Role in the Volume to Value Journey, interviews experts who share their insights, challenges, opportunities and outcomes from their telehealth programs. The report includes: 

Time to queue up Kid Rock’s “Born Free” – its election season folks! AKA my favorite time of year. Okay – not really, but, I must admit that I do enjoy watching the debates and seeing which witticisms go viral.

It’s time for Open Enrollment!  Employees will have the opportunity to change their health plan (between HMO and PPO), dental, and vision coverage as well as their AFLAC coverage.  As well, employees who are interested in enrolling in 2019 Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and/or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) must complete an application for 2019.  

The Quality, Research, and Measurement Department, in collaboration with individuals from across the organization, is pleased to announce the launch of an updated Policy and Procedure site on URAC’s Sharepoint environment.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Carole Lambert, URAC's Compliance Risk Manager.

Over the last month, URAC’s Marketing Department has been engaged in a campaign to alter the narrative around Telehealth Accreditation. To date, there are no outside forces, no health plans, no regulations, no scary monsters under the bed, that would require or mandate URAC’s Telehealth Accreditation.

Next week, October 9-11, marketing staff will be at the National Press Club managing URAC's October accreditation standards workshops.  While registration for the workshops is lower than our registration numbers for March, the live streaming registration has helped to boost the numbers. The March workshop registration numbers were especially high because it was the first time that Core v4.0 was offered. 

Redefine Health successfully launched the Redefine Health Academy in September 2018. The Academy is a series of online instructional webinars that will address some of the most pressing issues faced by specialty pharmacies today. 

Where do we stand with Core now? Let us recap…

There is a lot of talk about blockchain technology and how it will revolutionize life as we know it. While I am not sure how often any one person’s life can be “revolutionized,” blockchain is a cutting-edge technology that could be used in multiple industries, including healthcare. The following is an introduction to the concept.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Michala Rollé (me-KAH-lah roh-lay), URAC's Digital Marketing Strategist.

URAC has amassed a great deal of knowledge about what it takes to build a successful, high-quality pharmacy service. Redefine Health, URAC’s wholly-owned subsidiary and consulting arm, has been redesigned to facilitate this transfer of knowledge while maintaining the integrity of URAC’s accreditation process. Redefine Health represents URAC’s continued investment in the pharmacy community and signifies our effort to provide solutions to improve the quality of care patients receive.

Planning for the Telemed Leadership Forum 2019 is well underway. The website has launched with a preliminary agenda, speaker photos, and hotel information: https://telemed.org/

Selected staff participated in a second Kaizen Event in early August.  You may recall that “Kaizen” is a method to accelerate process improvement in any setting. This Kaizen focused on the specifics of the workflow for the Call Center Certification Program, e.g., when, where and how data is collected. To streamline the process, the team reviewed Parts 1 and 2 of the demographic questions currently required for completion by each applicant, with an eye toward eliminating duplicative questions or questions that have no bearing on the accreditation process. Of the 88 questions, the team recommended the elimination of all but 16. Of the remaining 16 questions, eight currently exist in SalesForce, four will be transmitted to AccreditNet, which then leaves only eight questions to be completed by the client. This streamlined approach translates to significant time savings for our clients!

I recently had the pleasure of taking a break from my normal day job to shadow a validation review. Given that my everyday tasks don’t really overlap with the review process, I was excited to get the chance to observe our reviewers in action. I regularly interact with product development, so I have a general understanding of how our standards are developed/revised, but this was a great opportunity to see our standards come to life, for lack of better words.

During July 2018 URAC Technology Services requested your feedback on our solutions and services.  Result of the survey included some interesting feedback:

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Larry Kroll, one of URAC's Business Development Executives.

Product Development is pleased to announce that the Community Pharmacy v2.0 revised accreditation is now available. To understand why Community Pharmacy was selected for revision in 2018, it is important to understand the state of the pharmacy industry.

URAC's new webinar portal, which is hosted by Digitell, Inc., will make registering for webinars and accessing on-demand content much easier for clients and URAC staff.

URAC has moved forward in its adoption of Lean Six Sigma with the completion of its first Kaizen Event! A Kaizen Event is a focused improvement project that can be accomplished in a short, dedicated timeframe.  It offers the opportunity for rapid improvement with a focus on identifying and eliminating waste in a process.

In June the President signed the VA MISSION Act into law which overhauled the Veterans Community Care Program. If you aren’t familiar, the community care program allows veterans to access private care outside of traditional U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities. It was created in 2014 in response to the very public PR nightmare concerning extensive wait times and other instances of negligence.

We have all heard how important it is to save for retirement. A few comments may have included “Social Security might not be around when you retire” or “What do you want your life to look like when you retire?”  

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Diana Concepcion, one of URAC's Staff Accountants.

About one year ago, the organization was finalizing its strategic plan in preparation for the Board.  One of the recurring themes I heard during the discovery interviews with URAC staff addressed URAC’s ‘lack of agility.’  What is agility?  Webster defines agility as having a quick, resourceful and adaptable character.

The Quality, Research & Measurement Team has been working diligently on updating the measure submission portal to ensure our clients can easily submit their data to meet accreditation requirements.  We are pleased to announce that the opening of the web-based portal will occur on July 1, 2018.   Clients are required to submit measure data if the program they are accredited under contain the RPT-1 and RPT-2 standards. 

URAC held its annual Joint Advisory Group meeting in Washington, DC this past May. There were 37 volunteers in attendance on Day One, and 32 in attendance on Day Two, plus numerous URAC staff – including Reviewers. 

June 13 was an important date for us here at URAC. Typically, the 13^th day of the month is associated with superstitions about bad luck. But for us it marked a key moment in national recognition and thought leadership. Because on June 13 URAC hosted and moderated a webinar about our Clinical Integration (CI) Accreditation program.

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act, S. 974, out of committee on June 14. The main purpose of this bill is to make it easier for generic and biosimilar developers to obtain confidential information from branded drug manufacturers. The bipartisan bill was first introduced in April 2017 but stalled due to strong lobbying efforts from brand-name pharma against the measure. Some members of the GOP have also expressed concern that the bill would lead to unfounded lawsuits against drug companies.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Greg McCray, one of URAC's newest Sales staff.

As of Monday, June 4, the URAC Sales team has initiated an aggressive outreach for our Telehealth Accreditation program. For some time, all eyes have been on new business sales as we’ve worked to generate new opportunities in the Provider Suite, for telehealth in particular.  The sales team is now engaged in strategic business development tactics that are being deployed on a daily and weekly basis.

On May 16-18, URAC’s Quality, Research and Measurement Team and Kiser Healthcare Solutions were pleased to present a poster session at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) Annual Meeting held in in Baltimore, MD.  Our topic was, “Dispensing Accuracy of Specialty Pharmacies” and you can view the poster that our team created here.

Many of the high-cost, complex therapies dispensed by specialty pharmacies have specific temperature range requirements. There is a lot a stake when it comes to proper cold chain management of medications. (Cold chain refers to the management of temperature-sensitive products as they move through the supply chain from the manufacturer to the end user, the patient.) 

Social media has revolutionized the way we do business online and connect with customers. But without a strong voice, social media marketing is an uphill battle. This is why Marketing has put together a Social Media Brand Voice Guide. The guide offers direction not only on voice, but also style, tone and how to deal with negative feedback online.

E-mail is an important tool for communication, but it is also the number one vector for cyberattacks.  Phishing attacks, the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, have tripled since 2016.  As such, URAC will be introducing a new piece of technology called Mimecast to our technology stack.

If you’ve been keeping up with Congress and the Trump Administration over the last month or so, then you know that drugs have been pushed to the forefront of just about everything healthcare related. On May 11, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released their drug pricing blueprint, American Patients First, which coincided with a speech from the President about the ridiculously high cost of pharmaceuticals and what his administration plans to do about it.

I did want to make sure that everyone who wasn’t already aware knows I updated the compendium of accreditation citations. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Jason Buckner, one of URAC's new Pharmacy Reviewers.

At the All Staff Meeting on April 26, Kyl summarized the highlights of the April Board meeting and communicated URAC’s revised 2018 Corporate Goals. The organization has experienced double digit operating margins since 2013 -  a tremendous result! Despite the favorable outcome, we continued to miss the new business growth target. To reverse this trend, URAC’s Board elected to modify the 2018 Corporate Goals to create additional focus:

Our moms always told us if we spent too much time watching TV it would fry our brain. If you’ve spent any time watching the political news the past few months you’d probably agree.  

URAC revised its Community Pharmacy Accreditation program by collaborating with CVS, which achieved accreditation under an earlier version of the program. The resulting version 2.0 better aligns with current market needs and provides a glidepath to other programs: Specialty Pharmacy and Mail Service Pharmacy.

As mentioned in the All-Staff meeting on April 26, the Sales team is undergoing a fundamental change in the way we conduct business. Spearheaded by our new Sales Director Kurt Acker, there will be three primary areas of focus:

The quality of healthcare provided in this country is not optimal. We know this either through personal circumstance or through evidence-based reports, such as the National Healthcare Quality Report published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Reports like these highlight the need for improvement of the quality of care in the United States. But how do we improve?

Nearly a year old, the IT department is reviewing our phone system, CallTower. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Troy Reese, Pharm.D., who has been with URAC as a pharmacy reviewer for almost two years.

URAC's first Telemed Leadership Forum attracted 100 attendees from hospitals and health systems, provider groups and telehealth providers. We had two keynote speakers on the first day: Dr. James "Butch" Rosser, a practicing physician and telemedicine pioneer, and Dr. Kevin Galpin, executive director of telehealth services for the Veterans Health Administration.

Many people agree that integration improves healthcare and health outcomes. Widespread integration itself, however, remains elusive; and closing the gaps between providers, health systems, and areas of access seems – at times, with traditional delivery models – nearly impossible. Yet, at the Telemed Leadership Forum 2018 (hosted by URAC and Telemedicine Magazine), telehealth emerged as an obvious and practical path to an integrated healthcare community.

URAC renovated its Core Accreditation model into something new and innovative: its Certification of Organizational Management. What is this new program, and why did URAC create it?

Performance measurement lies at the heart of any quality improvement process. But how do we know if the data collected from these measures is credible?  The first step is to select measures that are valid and reliable.  The second step is to engage an independent third party to evaluate the data for accuracy and completeness.  URAC’s measures program has entered its second phase, which requires an audit of the measures data submitted by clients on an annual basis.

What exactly is the dark web and why should you care, either personally or as an employee of URAC? 

Due to heavy media coverage back in February, you may be aware of CMS’ latest effort to expand access to affordable coverage through the expansion of short-term health plans. CMS unveiled their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on this effort entitled, “Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance” in the Federal Register on February 21. If you are a policy wonk like myself then you’ve been anticipating the release of this rule for a few months now following the President’s October 2017 executive order which essentially all but mandated it.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Monica Kiah, URAC's payroll and benefits administrator.

As discussed at February’s All Staff Meeting, the Product Development Team, in collaboration with the Executive Team, has been actively repositioning URAC’s Core 4.0 stand-alone accreditation program to an Organizational Management Certification program.

For the first time ever, URAC live streamed the accreditation standards workshops. We held all four workshops on March 1 and 2 at the Renaissance Washington, DC.

We received positive feedback on the March 1 and 2 workshops, from both in-person and live-streaming attendees. While I led the new Core v4.0 workshop on March 1 and the Case Management v6.0 workshop on March 2, Jennifer Richards and Tanya Bennett, two of our accreditation reviewers, led workshops covering several pharmacy and utilization management programs.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, two technology related concepts often used interchangeably are quite different in focus. Disaster Recovery, the process of saving and recovering data is only a part of a Business Continuity Plan.

You may have read that the Chronic Care Act, which has been praised by industry groups and telemedicine providers for paving the way for greater use of telemedicine, was included in the most recent Congressional budget.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Brittany McCullough, who has been with URAC for 2 weeks!

You're looking at the new home page hero image for the URAC website. After some finishing touches and a sneak peek for the Board of Directors on February 15, URAC's new website will go live. The completely re-imagined website is designed with the concept of content marketing in mind -- providing valuable, relevant and consistent content that attracts and engages audiences, drives customer action and generates leads for sales.

A group of URAC leaders and managers have spent several months reviewing URAC’s approach to delegation. Members of the Review Team and Account Management Staff provided valuable insight enabling capture of strengths and weaknesses in the standards and our validation methods.

Throughout the first quarter of 2018, the Technology Department will be upgrading all URAC laptops to the Windows 10 operating system.  During this same period some URAC staff will receive new laptops, replacing older devices.  The rollout schedule is:

On January 12, URAC submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed rule for Medicare Advantage. As part of the proposed rule, CMS requests feedback regarding the role that accreditation, namely accreditation of specialty pharmacies, plays in Part D. CMS noted anecdotal concerns that have been reported regarding the potential limiting nature of Part D contracts that require pharmacies to maintain Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation.

Each month, The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer in this Q&A. This month, the spotlight is on First Impression Specialist Nicholas Peters, who just started at URAC on February 5.

There goes 2017 already. And we've hit the ground running in first few days of 2018. From getting ready for the launch of the new website to ramping up promotions the big telehealth event and producing new content offers, we have a busy first quarter planned. Here's a summary:  

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Rachel Kelly-Brown, who has been with URAC for 3 ½ months. 

In support of goal one — build and launch one new program annually —  Deborah Smith has taken the lead on the following projects:  Telehealth v2.0 and Medicare Advantage 4.0.   In support of the Telehealth v2.0 program, Deborah revised the standards based on beta testing and emerging industry feedback.  The scope and scale of the changes has essentially categorized Telehealth as a new product offering.  Telehealth will be ready in early January 2018.

Last month, I addressed The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)’s Privacy Rule. In addition to the Privacy Rule, Congress mandated through HIPAA that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publish regulations --The Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information (the Security Rule)  which establishes a national set of security standards for protecting certain health information that is held or transferred in electronic form.

The 2017 Annual Performance Reviews are available on Paylocity under the Talent Tab.  Here is some important information.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Moshe-Bear Prigal , who has been with URAC since March of this year.

Over the last several months we’ve been a part of some encouraging activity related to our Clinical Integration Accreditation program. Last month I wrote about our President and CEO Kylanne Green speaking at a Clinical Integration summit in Chicago. Since that time, URAC’s been in engaged in two high-level events designed to promote the value of our CI program.

URAC has discovered a great deal about telehealth practice from the depth of expertise provided by our well-known, well-established beta test applicants. 

If you've wondered about how URAC develops standards or what goes into the accreditation process, this 22 minute video will give you the answers. Plus, you can easily share the link with prospects and clients.

As the year winds down, we want to update you on a few important dates and activities to help make your life a little easier. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Evan Oseni, who has been with URAC since September of this year.

Coming to the Board of Directors reception and dinner? This is a catered event at the Anderson House on Wednesday November 15, so be sure to accept the calendar invite you received from Peggy Reed by October 31, so we can get an accurate count for the evening.

I had the pleasure of listening to our President and CEO Kylanne Green speak at the World Congress 5th Annual Clinically and Financially Integrated Delivery Systems Summit. The session, “Recent Shifts in Health Care Policy and How to Modify and Adapt Growth and Acquisition Strategies in a Changing Landscape,” took place September 13 in Chicago, IL.

The Product Development team’s commitment to URAC’s mission to advance the quality of healthcare through leadership, accreditation, measurement, and innovation manifests itself starting this January in a significant way: the rollout of Core v4.0 and Case Management v6.0.

As we head into the final quarter of the year, we’re still full steam ahead with our content marketing strategy.  Content marketing includes not only articles for The URAC Report and social media posts, but also Industry Insight Reports, webinars, and in-person events. 

The Quality, Research, & Measurement Department, in partnership with Information Technology and Accrediting & Client Services, is pleased to announce the release of an Inter-Rater Reliability application for use in 4th Quarter of this year.

It hasn't been officially announced yet. The American Association of Managed Care Nurses (AAMCN) has just informed Bonnie Zickgraf that she won the Board of Directors election.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Haley Santos, who has been with URAC since June of this year.

Late August brought a series of changes to URAC’s organizational structure and its people. As you know, our Board of Directors strategy retreat in July resulted in affirmation of our three-year strategic plan and crystalized the thinking of our executive team. We made a commitment to put additional resources into building our capabilities and stimulating innovation to achieve breakthrough top line growth for 2018 and beyond.

After two years, two public comment periods, and more than 2,000 comments later, the major revision to Core - version 4.0 - has arrived!

In just under two months, the Telemed Leadership Forum 2018 went from an idea to a packed agenda with 25 expert speakers, and counting. We're co-hosting this event with Telemedicine Magazine on March 27-29, 2018 at the Renaissance Washington, DC. If you haven't seen the website, go to http://telemed.org/. 

To increase access and enhance mental health services provided by the state of New York, the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) in July issued guidance for the use of telepsychiatry.  In this guidance, the OMH states it will accept telehealth accreditation by a national accrediting organization as evidence of regulatory compliance for a subset of the regulations.

In early August, the URAC Sales team had the pleasure of attending the 72nd Annual Workers' Compensation Educational Conference in Orlando, Florida. URAC was well represented not only by the Sales staff, but also our standout marketing presence in one of the most high-traffic areas (see photo). While there, we met several long-time URAC clients who sang our praises (thank you, kindly).

I received the following email from Delwin Beene, Director of Accreditation at Community Health Choice in Houston, Texas. I wanted to share it with URAC staff because it shows the importance of our accreditation standards, particularly our disaster recovery standards, when a disaster strikes such as Hurricane Harvey.

The Information Technology department would like to thank our colleagues for your patience with us as we perform maintenance on our systems. We’d like to tell you a little about what we’ve been working on.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Mark Snapp, who has been with URAC for one year.

There are many things that stimulate our thinking when URAC considers development of new products, and we have sound criteria for evaluating each new idea. The genesis of our latest development effort, Genetics and Precision Medicine, was brought to us by scientists and clinicians who perceived a need to better organize the system of delivering care to people who are among our most vulnerable: people with genetic disorders.

In the early morning of Friday, July 28th, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) ended the latest Republican-led efforts to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by joining two other Republican Senators and every Senate Democrat in voting against a “skinny” repeal measure. Coming on the heels of two other failed votes in the Senate, any efforts for Republicans to deliver on the signature Republican campaign promise of repealing and replacing the ACA appear to be on hold.

The release of our latest Industry Insight Report, "Clinically Integrated Networks: A Framework for Clinical and Financial Success," launches our new content marketing campaign for clinical integration accreditation. 

We have invited URAC-accredited clients and other stakeholders to review the proposed measures and share their comments and recommendations during our public comment period, which began Tuesday, July 18, 2017 and will close on Thursday, August 31, 2017.

Self-proclaimed as “small but mighty,” the two-person team of the Program Standards and Maintenance Department tirelessly dedicates itself to daydreaming about the food at next year’s JAG meeting – and producing quality standards, of course.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Sheila Brunson, who has been with URAC for nearly ten years.

Be sure to check out URAC's new benefit program, TicketsatWork. The program offers discounts up to 60% on movie tickets, theme parks, Broadway shows, hotels and more!  

Janice Lee Blackburn, 59, passed away July 10, 2017. Loving mother of Ali Dashiell and Seth. Daughter of the late Carol Daniel. Dear Mimi of Aiden and Abel.Loving niece of Doris Coe and Fred Muehlhaeusler. Cousin of Dan, Terry and David.

As our strategic planning process transitions into the tactical planning phase, it’s important that all URAC staff understand our three-year strategic plan. To that end, I’ve sent a calendar invite for three separate dates for a lunch presentation on the strategic plan, to accommodate everyone’s schedules.

This isn’t your stodgy annual report. URAC tells its story in the “2016 Year in Review” – a visual report that gives a snapshot of accomplishments in 2016, describes our mission and values, articulates what we do and why we do it, and provides employee stats.

On June 22, the Senate released the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) - its version of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Senate version comes weeks after the House passed its version, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), by a narrow four vote margin on May 6th.

We are pleased to announce that the web-based measure portal opened on July 1 for the submission of 2016 performance measures. 

It's been around nine months since we initiated the content marketing strategy with implementation and integration of the Hubspot marketing automation tool and launch of the blog, The URAC Report.

URAC staff took our expertise and winning personalities to the CMSA 2017 Annual Conference in Austin, Texas, last week.

While a small, yet close knit company it’s a rare opportunity when the entire URAC team gets to party.  Such a chance arose this past month during the hottest and most humid week of our summer. 

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Peggy Reed, who has been with URAC for nearly five years.

It is hard to believe it is June!  We have reached the time of the year when we take stock of our results for the first half of 2017 and begin planning for the coming year. We will reflect on our collective and individual performance using the mid-year review process this month, and preparation for the 2018 budget will begin in July.

Business Development has continued to enjoy positive growth since 3rd quarter of 2016. After hiring both Sheila Brunson and Valerie Southall to fill two vacant territories in June and July of 2016, the Business Development team worked to generate new revenue for URAC in 2016.

URAC’s current phone system will reach “end-of-life” this year, meaning it will no longer be supported by our vendors. The new phone system is “cloud-based,” integrates with Skype for Business and Salesforce, and has some convenient capabilities, such as not having to dial 9 to get an outside line, and not having to look up a staff person's four-digit extension (since we won't have extensions anymore!). There are some action items for you this week and next week -- detailed in this article.   

As an accreditation organization, URAC prides itself on not only the quality and thoroughness of our Standards, but also on the renewed focus of continuous performance improvement that URAC brings to an organization through its Measures submission requirements.  The unasked question, “How does URAC ensure that the Standards and Measures brought to the table are meaningful, ensuring excellence and value?” is key to understanding the Accreditation process. 

URAC staff once again showed why we’re the gold standard in Specialty Pharmacy accreditation at this year’s Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The last month has seen a somewhat dizzying amount of healthcare-related policy activity at both the federal and state levels. There have been a number of issues that may have a direct impact on URAC or a direct impact on the customers (and ultimately the consumers) we serve.

The Monthly Review spotlights a different URACer each month in a Q&A. This month it's Christine Tao, who has been with URAC for nearly 12 years.

On Thursday, April 20, Kyl and I had the opportunity to present URAC’s strategic plan framework, planning process and preliminary work to date to the Board of Directors. 

I have to say, I’ve been to a lot of conferences in my time, but the 2017 American Telemedicine Association Annual Conference was the most productive one I’ve ever attended. Joe Walters, URAC’s Director of Sales, and Allison King, URAC’s Director of Marketing, brought their talents to Orlando and helped URAC not only secure new business leads, but also helped brand URAC at the 2017 Telemedicine Magazine Party.

Since its inception, URAC’s focus has been to improve the quality of care provided to patients across the health care continuum.  Continuous quality improvement is a cornerstone of our accreditation programs.