The National Committee for Quality Assurance this week announced new accreditation standards to help healthcare organizations meet the quality and regulatory requirements of virtual care programs and facilitate alignment with value-based care contracts.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
During last year’s Virtual Care Accreditation Pilot Program, healthcare institutions provided valuable and strategic input into the development of the new accreditation program, NCQA announced this week.
Discussions with industry and committees, market research and a public review and comment period also played a role in the process.
According to Peggy O’Kane, president of NCQA, virtual care assessment modules help standardize and improve best practices.
Organizations can apply for a Virtual Care Delivery quality mark. This quality mark is intended for organizations that primarily provide virtual or hybrid virtual primary and emergency care. They can also apply for a Virtual Care Delivery Oversight quality mark. This quality mark is intended for organizations that oversee care provided via virtual modalities, but do not provide care themselves.
According to NCQA, healthcare organizations can also pursue both accreditations simultaneously and benefit from annual reporting – a process that can help strengthen virtual care programs over time.
According to the committee’s website, virtual care accreditation offers:
- The flexibility that matches an organization’s strengths, planning and goals.
- Personalized service through a dedicated NCQA representative.
- User-friendly reporting with less paperwork.
- Adapting to changes in healthcare over time.
The first two modules for primary care and emergency care are now available, with more modules to come. NCQA also hosts Virtual Care Accreditation 101, a informative webinaron September 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET.
THE BIGGER TREND
As virtual care delivery opportunities exploded due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NCQA launched a broad update to the quality measures for the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set in 2020.
The updates recognised not only the role telehealth plays in making care available during an unprecedented national lockdown, but also as “an important part of the future health system,” O’Kane said at the time.
However, Matt Wolf, senior healthcare analyst at consulting firm RSM US, said Healthcare IT News Earlier this week, it was argued that despite the continued power of telehealth in the post-pandemic era, its success could stall without regulatory reform and incentives to drive better patient outcomes.
He says driving better patient outcomes could make virtual care more economically viable, but expanded access is hampered by the limitations of current telehealth operations and payment structures.
“The current regulatory and reimbursement framework is preventing that from happening,” he said. “Instead of having a single market that can serve patients virtually, we have 50 local markets.”
ON THE RECORD
“Healthcare has undergone a major transformation with the rapid adoption of virtual care. Accessible health care is important, but it must also be of high quality and equitable across the continuum of care,” O’Kane said in a statement announcing the new accreditation.
Andrea Fox is Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email address: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.