The Basics

This standard requires that the organization have mechanisms for interdepartmental coordination that weave QM, administrative and, where applicable, clinical functions. What this means to all employees is that you need to see yourself as working in a team with people from other departments, and be familiar with how communication among departments happens in your organization.  Teamwork might happen via committees with representatives of multiple departments, or less formally through emails, impromptu meetings, or in-house newsletters.  Just be ready, if asked, to describe how your or people in your department interface with people in other departments, in as many ways as possible.

Management Tips

The key management responsibility is to make sure the interdepartmental activity is clearly documented.  For example, if you have an interdepartmental committee, make sure the department affiliations of the various members is reflected in the committee charter and committee meeting minutes.

URAC Accreditation Tips

This seemingly straightforward standard has been the subject of increasingly rigorous interpretation in the last couple of years. It is rated "3".

The Program Guide is quite clear about the documents that will be reviewed on Desktop Review:

• Agenda and attendance roster for recent three (3) inter-departmental meeting minutes: please identify the attendees by name, credentials, and affiliation/department
• Job descriptions or temporary staff assignments for staff functioning as a liaison to other departments
• QI project description: see “Accreditation Tools” for a sample template

Despite the clarity of this guidance, however, some applicants have overlooked essential requirements. For example, some have submitted minutes of inter-departmental meetings without identifying the name, credentials, and department affiliation of the attendees. Without this information, there is no way for the reviewer to know that the meeting was, in fact, "inter-departmental".

Some applicants have failed to demonstrate in their documentation that interdepartmental meetings dealt with quality improvement issues. The reviewer will need to see relevant documentation addressing the mechanisms to promote communication, collaboration, and coordination across disciplines and departments as they relate to quality improvement initiatives, not merely the integration of administrative activities. Don't overlook the possibility of submitting a quality improvement project description form that, in and of itself, contains documentation of inter-departmental coordination.