The Basics

The standard sets forth the fundamental activities of the P&T committee:

• the appraisal, evaluation, and selection of drugs for the formulary
• the evaluation and review of policies and procedures designed to educate prescribers about drugs, their use, and the decisions of the committee regarding formulary
• the evaluation, analysis, and review of protocols and procedures regarding the use of and access to drugs that are not on the formulary.

Management Tips

Make sure that the policies and procedures setting forth the committee's responsibilities include its oversight of the formulary system, interventions, therapeutic interchange programs, the education of prescribers, pharmacists, and consumers, and quality improvement.

URAC Accreditation Tips

The three elements of the standard are each weighted 2.

Documentation at the desktop review level is simply the applicable policies and procedures and/or the committee charter.

In addition to reviewing committee minutes during on-site review, the URAC reviewer will review communications materials designed to meet the intent of the standard as well as interview a member of the committee.  It will be particularly important to make sure the committee member to be selected for this interview is fully trained on URAC standards about which he/she is likely to be asked during this interview.