URAC’s New Specialty and Mail Service Pharmacy Accreditation Standards, v. 5.0: Part 3
(Performance Monitoring & Improvement)

In October 2022, URAC unveiled the new Specialty Pharmacy and Mail Service Pharmacy Accreditation Programs, v. 5.0. In this video, the third of a series of eight videos, we explore what’s new as it relates to the Performance Monitoring and Improvement (“PMI”) 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:

  • Performance Monitoring and Improvement

  • Quality Management Committee

  • Error Tracking

  • Performance Indicators

  • Quality Metrics

  • Analyzing Trends

  • Measurable Goals

  • Internal and External Reporting

  • Benchmarks

 

Transcription

 

[00:00:23.220] - Thomas Goddard

The PMI standards, of course, are at the heart of your accreditation programs. They used to be the QM standards, now the performance measurement and improvement standards, and big changes there, it seems to me.

 

[00:00:40.400] - Jill Paslier

Yeah. There's actually a lot of concepts removed out of the PMI standards that I'll touch on in a moment. The only really change or new thing that you will want to be aware of is there's a clarification and expansion just in the process for analyzing and identifying your trends. A lot of pharmacies have already been doing this, but just realize that now URAC has specified a little bit more of what this means, and that it means to review the baseline, the past status, and the current status during your quality committee reviews. So just making sure that you're touching on all those to really analyze and identify the trends.

 

[00:01:18.040] - Thomas Goddard

Yeah, that seems to me like very helpful clarification. It was not always clear from the earlier versions what you meant by that. And adding that level of detail, I think, is going to help our clients more clearly answer that. But as you say, a lot vanished from PMI. What are some of the highlights there?

 

[00:01:36.030] - Jill Paslier

Right. Yeah, so some of the changes just removed some of the requirements to define your scope, the functions that your quality committee is doing, defining the content experts in the QMC and the quality committee, providing guidance to staff on quality projects and priorities, completing that periodic evaluation and annual evaluation. So that's a big one. This was a long, time-consuming and detailed process to do an annual evaluation of your quality committee or your quality program, and that's no longer required. You no longer need to measure and analyze specific, defined quality metrics. In the 4.0 standards, they specified errors, ADEs, near-misses, satisfaction. A lot of these are still required by other standards to review in your quality committee, but it's not listed in the PMI section. There may be just some changes to what specifically you need to be reviewing. Basically, now they're allowing the organization to identify and measure their own quantifiable goals and topics that they want to be reviewing. You're no longer required to report internally and externally for your quality topics besides, of course, reporting to your quality committee. Then you no longer are required to define benchmarks. However, you need to define goals as you were doing before as well.

  

[00:03:04.990] - Thomas Goddard

Got it. That's helpful.