The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is now offering a case management accreditation program and three organizations have already signed on.
The new program is designed for case management programs in provider, payer and community-based organizations and focuses on how organizations deliver case management services, emphasizes care coordination, patient-centeredness and quality of care, assesses quality during patient transitions between care settings and can be used to align case management goals and approaches across a variety of organizations.
"Case management accreditation moves us closer to measuring quality across population health management initiatives," said Margaret E. O'Kane, NCQA's president in a statement announcing the program. "Not only does it add value to existing quality improvement efforts; it also demonstrates an organization's commitment to the highest degree of improving the quality of their patients' care."
The three "early adopters" of the program are Alere, a global developer of medical diagnostic products headquartered in Massachusetts; Monroe Plan for Medical Care, a managed care organization headquartered in Rochester, N.Y.; and OptumHealth Care Solutions, one of the country's largest health and wellness companies.
NCQA noted in its statement that health plans or accountable care organizations currently accredited by NCQA and patient-centered medical homes that are NCQA-recognized are automatically eligible for credit when they work with organizations that achieve NCQA case management accreditation.