The Basics

One of the most important of the URAC Core standards is Core 23, which requires that the organization have processes to respond quickly to urgent situations that threaten consumers' well-being.

Even though the standard speaks of "a mechanism", the reality is that it requires a system of mechanisms dealing with the full array of urgent situations that are likely to confront the applicant. You can see this intent reflected in the Program Guide under the "Evidence for Desktop Review" section:

Policies and procedures regarding responses to consumer safety address suicide, domestic violence, accessing emergency services for members, addressing significant reportable events, quality of care concerns.

What this means for the average employee is that you need to know what to do in the event you come into possession of information that consumers' health or welfare are threatened.  Your organization's P&Ps should provide you with that information -- if not, talk to a supervisor about this issue.

Management Tips

Your P&Ps should address the full array of likely issues.  Brainstorm with your colleagues about all the possible emergencies that could arise for consumers, and how your staff members might come into possession of that information.

However, the tricky part of passing this standard is not so much knowing what to submit with the application, but making sure your staff members know what the basic standards of care for each of these urgent situations is.

The upshot of this is that your staff training should include appropriate responses to urgent situations. The URAC reviewers will pose a series of hypotheticals to your staff members, and will listen carefully to their answers to detect the quality of your training.

URAC Accreditation Tips

So, in the application, make sure to submit P&Ps that address the full array of likely issues.

The standard is weighted "5", and therefore a mandatory standard. In other words, you mess up this standard and you cannot achieve full accreditation.