Healthcare Accreditation, Compliance, and Program Development Consulting Since 2002 — URAC, NCQA, NABP, HITRUST, and 24 More

Last updated: April 2026

Integral Healthcare Solutions is a specialized healthcare consulting firm founded in 2002 by Thomas G. Goddard, JD, PhD, former Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of URAC. IHS guides health plans, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and healthcare facilities through three parallel practice lines — accreditation consulting, compliance services, and program development — across every major healthcare standard, including URAC, NCQA, NABP, ACHC, HITRUST, CARF, FACT, DNV, NCCHC, AAHRPP, 340B, and more. Every engagement is principal-led, scope-based, and tailored to your organization.

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Why IHS

Principal-led, not delegated. When you hire IHS, you work directly with Dr. Goddard — not a junior associate. Every deliverable is reviewed and shaped by the principal who served as URAC's COO and General Counsel.

Over 25 years of URAC and NCQA expertise. Dr. Goddard helped build URAC's accreditation programs from the inside before founding IHS in 2002. That institutional knowledge now serves IHS clients across every URAC and NCQA product.

Three practice lines under one roof. Most accreditation-only firms cannot handle standalone compliance work, and most compliance shops do not understand the accrediting bodies. IHS covers all three — accreditation, compliance, and program development — so clients who need more than one line of work do not have to coordinate across firms.

28 accreditation, compliance, and program development engagements in one firm. IHS covers URAC, NCQA, NABP, ACHC, HITRUST, CARF, FACT, DNV, NCCHC, AAHRPP, Joint Commission, 340B, and more — because healthcare organizations often need multiple programs simultaneously, and coordinating them across firms creates friction, duplicated work, and inconsistent documentation.

Scoped per engagement, no fee lists. Every IHS engagement begins with a complimentary discovery call that produces a fixed-fee proposal tailored to your situation. Fees are customized based on organizational complexity, documentation maturity, and timeline — not pulled from a price list.

What IHS Does — Three Parallel Practice Lines

IHS work spans three parallel practice lines. Every engagement falls into one of these three — and many clients engage IHS across two or three lines simultaneously. For the complete catalog of 28 service offerings, see our Services page.

1. Accreditation Consulting

Getting an organization through a third-party accrediting body's process — initial, re-accreditation, or multi-body coordinated. IHS covers URAC, NCQA, NABP, ACHC, HITRUST, CARF, FACT, DNV, NCCHC, AAHRPP, Joint Commission, and more. Typical engagements include gap analysis, documentation development, mock surveys, and survey support.

2. Compliance Services

Standalone regulatory compliance work that is not tied to an accreditation cycle — ongoing monitoring, state and federal mandate response, cybersecurity and privacy, and regulatory change management. IHS compliance engagements often run in parallel with accreditation work or as independent long-term retainers.

IHS also supports clients with state health plan mandates, CMS updates, telehealth and RPM regulatory change management, HIPAA and healthcare cybersecurity, and ongoing compliance program monitoring outside the accreditation cycle. Contact us to scope a compliance engagement.

3. Program Development & Standards Development

IHS does not only help clients meet standards — IHS helps clients build programs and standards from the ground up. Program development engagements produce the operational infrastructure (policies, procedures, quality management systems, program architectures) that a client needs before they can pursue accreditation or operate a new line of business.

Typical program development clients are organizations entering a new line of business (a health plan adding a PBM, a pharmacy adding specialty, a hospital standing up a cellular therapy program), organizations that need to build a compliance function from zero, and organizations designing new healthcare delivery models that anticipate future accreditation or licensure.

Who IHS Serves

IHS engages with health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, specialty pharmacies, mail service pharmacies, compounding pharmacies, DMEPOS suppliers, dialysis centers, behavioral health organizations, cellular therapy centers, correctional healthcare systems, IRBs and research protection programs, home health and hospice agencies, federally qualified health centers, telehealth platforms, remote patient monitoring vendors, healthcare cybersecurity teams, 340B-covered entities, and clinical laboratories.

IHS clients typically fall into one of three buyer profiles, and many clients fit into more than one at once:

  • Accreditation seekers. Organizations pursuing initial or re-accreditation to unlock payer contracts, satisfy state licensure, or prepare for a survey cycle. Entry point: accreditation consulting.
  • Compliance operators. Organizations already running their programs who need ongoing regulatory compliance support, state mandate tracking, or help responding to a specific regulatory event. Entry point: compliance services.
  • Program builders. Organizations entering a new line of business, launching a new service, or building a function from zero. They need the program architecture before they need the accreditation. Entry point: program development.

A health plan entering the PBM market often needs all three at once — a program build for the new PBM line, ongoing compliance for the state mandate environment, and URAC or NCQA accreditation to unlock payer network participation. IHS coordinates across all three practice lines for those clients instead of forcing them to juggle multiple firms.

How Engagements Work

Every IHS engagement begins with a complimentary discovery call with Dr. Goddard. During the call, we discuss your organization's current documentation maturity, timeline, regulatory constraints, and strategic goals. At the conclusion of the call, you receive a fixed-fee proposal tailored to your specific situation.

Accreditation engagement phases typically include: (1) gap analysis against current standards, (2) documentation development and remediation, (3) Standard-by-Standard Review, (4) mock survey or desk review, (5) survey support, and (6) post-survey corrective action planning if needed. Compliance engagements are typically structured as ongoing retainers with quarterly deliverables. Program development engagements produce operational infrastructure on a milestone-based schedule. The depth and duration of each phase depend on your organization's starting position and the practice line involved.

Ready to Start?

Schedule a complimentary discovery call with Dr. Goddard. No obligation, no fees, no generic pitch deck — just a real conversation about your accreditation, compliance, or program development goals and a scoped proposal tailored to your situation.

Schedule a Free Discovery Session

Or browse the complete Services catalog, meet the IHS team, read our company history, or learn why organizations hire healthcare consultants.