URAC, JC, ACHC Detail What's New in SP Accrediting

Specialty Pharmacy Continuum (08/16/22) Blum, Karen

The Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC), Joint Commission (JC), and Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) shared new components and pharmacy service review processes in specialty pharmacy (SP) accreditation at the 2022 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Summer Meetings and Exhibition. URAC's Jenn Richards, PharmD, JD, CSP, said this year the commission introduced a new accreditation for pharmacy services offered outside of traditional dispensing, covering vaccine administration, community practice, drug therapy management, and point-of-care testing. Robert Campbell, PharmD, BCSCP, also said the Joint Commission is assessing SP accreditation in its home care accreditation program. The JC has added three performance elements: two focus on data collection of adherence rates, turnaround time for patient medication delivery, and billing and coding errors. The third addition meets a record of care mandate concerning documentation of patient education on drug instructions and use. The ACHC's Timothy Safley, MBA, said this year's SP updates eliminated the pre-employment drug testing requirement and clarified a mandate that temperature-sensing devices be confirmed and calibrated with U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology standards.

Read More