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.”
Creating an accreditation for home infusion therapy suppliers was therefore a logical next step in URAC’s ongoing quest to create a safer and all-around better patient experience. The Product Development, IT, Accrediting and Client Services, Pharmacy, and Government Relations teams have worked together over the last several months to create and launch a program that emphasizes the role of the pharmacy in this changing environment. URAC will be submitting its application for deemed status to CMS by August 1, 2019.
Currently, clients can apply for this program if they have achieved, or are in the process of also applying for, URAC’s Specialty Pharmacy accreditation. During this early adoption period, URAC will offer the accreditation at no additional charge to those clients who have already achieved Specialty Pharmacy accreditation; this is a way to offer a no-cost value add to home infusion therapy suppliers and the patients themselves.
The program publications (such as the Guide, Standards Only, Standards-at-a-Glance, and FAQs) are located on the Product Development team’s section of the Sharepoint site. The link is below:
The folder can also be accessed by navigating to the Product Development section under the Sales & Marketing tab of Sharepoint, where there is a subdirectory for each suite of programs; the HITS folder linked above will be found within the Pharmacy Quality Management subdirectory.
Thank you to the many URAC staff members who assisted in creating this program, as well as to our Board, the Health Standards Committee, and other external stakeholders. Through the efforts of all these individuals, URAC has been able to take this opportunity to bring quality improvement to the home infusion therapy space and continue striving to improve the lives of patients.
