The Basics

This standard sets forth the general requirement that your organization must have a quality management program.  It requires that the program promote systematic measurement and evaluation of services provided by the organization.  It also requires that, when the organization, through this performance monitoring, encounters opportunities for improvement, the organization implements quality improvement activities.

This is a very general requirement, the details of which are spelled out in the succeeding standards.

Management Tips

Probably the best way to address this standard and those that follow is to write a comprehensive quality management program description that does not change significantly from one year to the next.  In addition, a quality management plan that is updated annually will be an excellent document in which to set short term goals for quality management program.  the former of these two documents can be a compilation of all the policies and procedures of that relate to quality management, or, instead, a concert in place of the policies and procedures.

URAC Accreditation Tips

This standard is weighted 3.

For the desktop review, submit the quality management plan (with a quality management policies and procedures), as well as the job descriptions for key quality management department personnel, deeply those in management positions.

For the on-site review, you can expect the URAC reviewer to examine minutes of the meetings of your quality management committee for the last two or three years.  In addition, the reviewer will conduct an interview of senior staff members involved in the quality management program, usually in the first morning of the on-site review.  Quality management staff member should be prepared to present a PowerPoint presentation during that interview.