Mar 5
2014
St. Vincent’s Health Partners First in Nation to Achieve URAC Clinical Integration Accreditation
St. Vincent’s Health Partners, Inc. (SVHP) announced today that it is the first Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) in the nation to receive Clinical Integration Accreditation from URAC, a Washington, DC-based healthcare accrediting organization that established quality standards for the healthcare industry. By earning URAC’s Clinical Integration Accreditation, SVHP demonstrates that their organization is capable of delivering highly coordinated care across a broad spectrum of providers who value quality and evidence-based medicine, recognize the cost-of-care, and respect the relationship with each patient while developing therapeutic plans. The accreditation demonstrates a market advantage to patients, employers, health insurers, and government sponsored programs.
The SVHP network is comprised of St. Vincent’s Medical Center, our flagship hospital, and member Physicians in a Clinically Integrated Network. The network is growing to include skilled Nursing Centers, Home Care Agencies, Safety Net Clinics, and other Healthcare Systems to provide appropriate care in the appropriate setting while improving quality and cost.
Clinical integration requires providers to work together to share clinical data within a framework and network more expansive than a medical home, with the shared goal of rendering necessary care to patients in an efficient manner with the best possible outcomes regardless of patient care setting. This is truly a patient-centered neighborhood vision. Successful clinical integration requires collaboration and coordination at all levels of the network, and URAC’s Clinical Integration Accreditation sets the framework for the type of collaborative environment that controls costs, ensures quality, and improves health outcomes.
“Many organizations claim to be clinically integrated without providing any context to the statement. SVHP is proud to have met national standards validating the capabilities for clinical integration,” said Thomas A. Raskauskas, MD, President and CEO St. Vincent’s Health Partners.
“We applaud St. Vincent’s Health Partners on achieving URAC Clinical Integration Accreditation”, said URAC President and CEO Kylanne Green. “In today’s healthcare market, URAC accreditation provides a mark of distinction for organizations to demonstrate their commitment to quality healthcare. St. Vincent’s Health Partners should be commended for its decision to be reviewed under URAC’s strict quality standards.”
The URAC Clinical Integration Accreditation process demonstrates St. Vincent’s Health Partners’ commitment to cost-effective quality medical services and management, and serves as a framework to achieve transparency through benchmarking our network against nationally recognized standards to validate best practices for our patients and network members.
About St. Vincent’s Health Partners
In response to the rapidly-changing healthcare environment, in June 2012 regional physicians and the 473-bed St. Vincent’s Medical Center, (www.stvincents.org) developed a new physician hospital organization (PHO), St. Vincent’s Health Partners, Inc. (SVHP). Serving southwestern Connecticut, SVHP, a PHO comprised of more than 345 healthcare providers and St. Vincent’s Medical Center, provides a strategy to improve patient care in this new environment.
The St Vincent’s Health Partners PHO aligns physician and hospital efforts through active coordination of care and data sharing. As a result of this collaboration, patients receive better healthcare across the entire continuum of care. Through its partnership and shared information technology, SVHP allows participating primary care and specialist physicians to perform well under new healthcare reimbursement models that reward clinical integration and improved quality of care. For more information, visit us at www.stvincentshealthpartners.org.
About URAC
URAC, an independent, nonprofit organization, is a well-known leader in promoting healthcare quality through its accreditation, education, and measurement programs. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs and services that model the rapid changes in the healthcare 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 healthcare industry. For more information, visit www.urac.org.