Patient Centered Medical Homes: What it Takes for PCMH Accreditation

Patient centered medical homes have become a very hot healthcare topic recently, and while there are multiple recognition, or PCMH accreditation, programs to choose from there are commonalities in the guidelines of what must be met by any medical home seeking accreditation. So whether your organization is pursuing URAC PCHCH accreditation, TJC accreditation, NCQA Accreditation, or the recently launched CARF accreditation for medical homes, keep these general standards in mind:

– Evaluations should be conducted by the Accrediting Agency to ensure that the effectiveness of its program is measured, and that improvements are made to the accrediting program over time

It is important for Medical Homes to understand that Accreditation standards and requirements are continuously evolving so that programs can improve over time based on industry recognized best practices. This is similar to the Medical Homes goal of continuing Quality Improvement, but from the perspective of the accrediting body. Changes in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment necessitate accreditation requirement changes, and these changes are made taking into account evidence, field testing, the experience of the stakeholders utilizing the program, public comment, and the general changes in the healthcare environment.

As such, organizations who have become accredited may be surprised to learn that when applying for re-accreditation some of the requirements have changed. This is why accreditation maintenance should be part of any ongoing accreditation implementation undertaken by a Medical Home. Accreditation maintenance serves to ensure that your organization will be prepared for reaccreditation when the time comes, it will keep the organization to stay on track with the latest in accreditation standards, and allow providers and administrative staff of the Medical Home to continuously work toward accreditation preparation in between accreditations, allowing for a smoother more efficient process.

Those who have begun an accreditation maintenance program have been pleased to find that they are able to actively prepare for re-accreditation over a period of years, rather than trying to cram accreditation prep work in over a few months. Furthermore, continuous maintenance of your accreditation means that your organization will remain in compliance with accreditation standards throughout the term.