URAC Introduces New Performance Measures and Reporting Standards for Pharmacy Benefit Management and Drug Therapy Management Accreditation

URAC Introduces New Performance Measures and Reporting Standards for Pharmacy
Benefit Management and Drug Therapy Management Accreditation

Changes To Be Promoted at 10th Annual Quality Summit

WASHINGTON and TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- URAC, the
nation's leading health care accreditation and education organization, will
introduce new performance measures and reporting standards to its Pharmacy
Benefit Management (PBM) and Drug Therapy Management (DTM) Accreditation
programs at a workshop focused on the latest revisions and updates to the
standards. The workshop, scheduled for October 6, 2009 at URAC's 10th Annual
Quality Summit and Exhibition in Tucson, AZ, will be conducted by Janice
Anderson, RPh Director of Pharmacy Programs for URAC, and will guide
participants through standards changes reflected in PBM and DTM Version 2.0
and review the new accreditation requirements for performance measurement
reporting.

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"With one in every five health care dollars spent on prescription drugs, there
is a critical need to maintain national standards and assure consumers that
ongoing accountability and quality best practices will continue to be a major
focus for URAC-accredited companies," said Alan P. Spielman, president and CEO
of URAC. "PBM and DTM programs are expanding rapidly, and these new standards
will enhance patient safety, assure timely access to prescription medications
and improve medication therapy management across this country."

URAC's Pharmacy Benefit Management and Drug Therapy Management standards
establish benchmarks that evaluate organizational integrity, clinical areas,
operations, and marketing and communications. This year, URAC's Pharmacy
Accreditation Advisory Group revised the standards in order to tackle a broad
range of program functions, such as development of clinical formulary policies
using evidence-based medicine; patient and prescriber communication regarding
medication use; and promoting consumer and prescriber rights, shared decision
making and consumer education. The revised standards went into effect in July
2009.
New performance measures in PBM and DTM Version 2.0 allow organizations to
show employers and other purchasers quantitative results related to consumer
engagement, cost effectiveness, and consumer and client satisfaction. These
measures will address areas such as medication possession ratios to assist
with medication adherence, dispensing rates for generic medications, timely
resolution of complaints, consumer satisfaction rates, and call center
performance.
Measurement reporting will use a multi-year, three phase approach. First,
organizations report mandatory measures to URAC, placing a particular focus on
internal performance improvement and oversight activities. Phase two requires
those measures be externally audited or verified, and URAC then makes
composite measurement data available to participating organizations and
interested third parties. In the last phase, URAC publishes the detailed
public reports on its website with specific information by organization. URAC
accredited pharmacy benefit management organizations and drug therapy
management organizations will submit performance measurement reporting on
these measures in 2011 for the 2010 reporting year. URAC accredits over 20 of
the nation's leading pharmacy benefit management and drug therapy management
organizations serving millions of consumers.
"It is important that URAC's standards stay current with changes in the
industry. By developing measures for functions including evidence-based
medicine and consumer rights, we can encourage improvement and innovation in
the marketplace, and set standards that challenge organizations to empower and
protect consumers," said John Jones, RPh, JD, chairman of URAC's Pharmacy
Accreditation Advisory Group and vice president of professional practice and
pharmacy policy at Prescription Solutions. "These new accreditation standards
are designed to help organizations drive appropriate therapeutic outcomes for
consumers with a clear focus on patient safety, outcomes measurement and
quality improvement."

The Pharmacy Accreditation Advisory Group is comprised of 38 members
representing a wide range of professionals from the health care sector,
including employers, consumers, pharmacy consultants, health plans,
independent retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefit management organizations,
pharmacy professional organizations, labor, and large purchasing groups such
as the Office of Personnel Management.

The PBM and DTM Accreditation Standards workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m. on
October 6, 2009 with an overview of the standards and review of the
re-accreditation process. The full-day session will also cover URAC's core
accreditation standards. The workshop is being held in conjunction with URAC's
10th Annual Quality Summit which runs October 6-8, 2009 at the Hilton El
Conquistador Resort in Tucson, AZ.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.urac.org/accreditationEducation/10thAnnualSummit.asp.

For information on new standards and revisions to PBM and DTM, please visit:
http://www.pqm.urac.org

About URAC
URAC, an independent, nonprofit organization, is well-known as a leader in
promoting health care quality through its accreditation, education and
measurement programs. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking
programs and services that keep pace with the rapid changes in the health care
system, and provide a symbol of excellence for organizations to validate their
commitment to quality and accountability. Through its broad-based governance
structure and an inclusive standards development process, URAC ensures that
all stakeholders are represented in establishing meaningful quality measures
for the entire health care industry. For more information, visit
www.urac.org.

SOURCE URAC

Amy Cantu, Levick Strategic Communications, +1-202-973-1325,
acantu@levick.com, for URAC