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.

Deborah is lead on the Medicare Advantage 4.0 program.  This CMS accreditation program, if approved, will position URAC as having deemed status.  URAC submitted its standards and validation methods to CMS.  Deborah’s work doesn’t stop at standard development.  She is concurrently developing companion program materials to include validation review tools and the program guides in collaboration with Haley Doss.  Lastly, she is crafting the Sales and ACS training material.  URAC expects a CMS update in Q1 – Q2 2018

Donna Merrick has taken on the daunting task to ‘trim down’ Core 4.0 based on approximately 2,000 public comments.  In addition to these modifications, she has migrated the standards into focus areas and simplified the standard language so that they are acceptable to all healthcare sectors. Core 4.0 will be rolled out to all appropriate programs by Q4 2018.  In addition to program validation tools and user guides, Donna will lead the AccreditNet 2.0 build and testing.

Robin Adams has made ‘the ask’ of three leading organizations to beta test the Genomics Precision Medicine standards. She is working with the leadership at these organization to clarify any questions and to discuss the process entailed in beta testing.

As discussed at the December 2017 Staff meeting, we all have a part to play in the execution of URAC’s Strategic Plan.  To that end, each person will work with their leaders to identify the ‘vital few’ tactics that will support the organization on its way to achieving its mission and vision to be the first choice in healthcare accreditation.