URAC’s New Specialty and Mail Service Pharmacy Accreditation Standards, v. 5.0: Part 4
(Consumer Protection & Empowerment)

In October 2022, URAC unveiled the new Specialty Pharmacy and Mail Service Pharmacy Accreditation Programs, v. 5.0. In this video, the fourth of a series of eight videos, we explore what’s new as it relates to the Consumer Protection and Empowerment (“CPE”) module within those two accreditation programs.

In this educational video, IHS's CEO, Dr. Tom Goddard, sits down with the company's Chief Operating Officer and Senior Pharmacy Consultant, Dr. Jill Paslier, to discuss the changes in the URAC Specialty Pharmacy and Mail Service Pharmacy accreditation standards between version 4.0 and version 5.0.

Jill shares her insights and expertise on the updated standards, highlighting the key changes that impact specialty and mail service pharmacies seeking URAC accreditation. She also offers practical advice on how specialty pharmacies can ensure they meet the new requirements and maintain their accreditation status.

Whether you are a specialty or mail service pharmacy owner, operator, or clinician, this video is a must-watch. You'll gain valuable knowledge and a deeper understanding of the URAC Specialty Pharmacy and Mail Service Pharmacy accreditation standards and what it takes to achieve and maintain accreditation in today's healthcare landscape.

So, sit back, relax, and get ready to learn from the experts at IHS!

Topics covered include:

  • Consumer Protection and Empowerment

  • Senior Clinical Staff

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (for Consumers)

  • Consumer safety protocol

  • Crisis Calls

  • Unethical Healthcare Practices

  • Marketing Materials

 

Transcription

[00:00:22.410] - Tom Goddard

Take us to the CPE standards. What in particular jumped out here? Any new ideas that our clients need to think about?

 

[00:00:32.730] - Jill Paslier

Yup. So the main new concept is, again looking at consumer diversity, equity, inclusion, and making sure you have a process to promote that. So that'll be probably a big change if you've never done that before.

 

And then there's also a new concept that was added back. I believe this was in previous versions. But the concept for reviewing marketing materials and having safeguards against misrepresentation. So if you haven't done that in a while, it wasn't in the 40 standards. You'll have to have a process for that.

 

[00:01:07.590] - Tom Goddard

Yeah, that's a very old concept that. Goes back to the very earliest URAC standards. It was a little surprising that that's kind of re added back in.

 

[00:01:18.950] - Jill Paslier

Yes. And then a few things have been removed from the CPE section. So with the standard talking about the senior clinical staff person specifically, they're no Longer required to ensure that the qualified clinicians are accountable to the organizations for decisions affecting consumers. Longer required to ensure that the qualified clinicians are accountable to the organizations for decisions affecting consumers. So just a minor detail. I mean, they're probably still doing that, but it's just not spelled out in the URAC guide any longer.

 

[00:01:45.490] - Tom Goddard

That was always kind of a puzzling One to many of our clients. Well, what does that mean? We were know in a nutshell. It was basically The way URAC interpreted it. The reviewers interpreted it was if the Chief clinician is not directly involved in The hiring, which is one way to Do it, then they had to at least be involved in the design of The qualifications for the clinicians to make sure that those qualifications made sure that the clinicians were appropriately qualified. But once URAC loosened the requirement to. That so that it was kind of that minimal involvement of being involved in the design of the qualifications, then I think it lost a lot of its potential meat. And so it's not a huge change by any means, certainly.

 

[00:02:41.970] - Jill Paslier

Right. One other detail for the consumer safety protocol, so this would be when you're responding to, on an urgent basis, situations that pose an immediate threat to the health and safety of the consumer. Some of the detail has been removed from the interpretive information. So in the 4.0 standard, you had to have a process to respond to medical and device recalls and fraudulent medications. So those specific details have been removed from that standard.

 

[00:03:11.710] - Tom Goddard

Great. Anything else in the CPE section, or Is that pretty much it?

 

[00:03:14.060] - Jill Paslier

 A couple other small ones here. One concept has been removed for identifying the designated authority for monitoring unethical healthcare practices and collection and review of these and then also the concept has been removed for the prohibition of financial incentives.

 

[00:03:30.690] - Tom Goddard

This is a little surprising to me. The financial incentives standard has been around. In URAC standards of all flavors for a very long time. And so I found it a little surprising that that's removed, but apparently that's not a big issue for specialty or mail service pharmacies that is distinct from retail. And that's one of the themes you've seen, is that a lot of what URAC has paired back is kind of assumed for pharmacies generally, as you put it. I think Pharmacy 101. Is that kind of your take on some of these changes?

 

[00:04:04.770] - Jill Paslier

Sure, yeah. A lot of these changes and the ones we'll see in the pharmacy operations section as well, are things that pharmacies should be doing already, even. It's the most basic process for retail pharmacies. So I think a lot of these are not saying you don't need to do them. It's like most pharmacies are just doing it anyway, so we just don't need to spell it out and review it. As a part of the URAC standards.