Human Resources: The 2008 Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment and Protection Awards, Conference March 25-26, 2008

Washington, D.C. June 29, 2007 – URAC, the independent, nonprofit leader in promoting health care quality through accreditation and certification programs, announced the rollout of a new awards competition for the nation’s best programs that promote consumer empowerment and protection. The 2008 Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment and Protection Awards, Conference & Exhibit Program, to be held March 25-26, 2008 in Orlando, will feature the Best Practices award winners among entries from health plans, pharmacy benefit management organizations, care/medical management companies and health information technology companies.

“For the first time, the Best Practices awards and conference will enable us to recognize the key industry leaders who have been innovative in health care management activities in a way that has particular relevance to consumers,” said Alan P. Spielman, URAC’s president and chief executive officer. “URAC accreditation provides a very comprehensive assessment of the quality of what companies are doing, but this is an opportunity to drill down to specific programs that are really creating the best practices for the industry.”

The deadline for awards entries to this inaugural awards competition is Aug. 15, 2007, and entry is not limited to URAC-accredited organizations. The Call for Entries is available at http://www.urac.org/bestpractices.

The Best Practices awards competition comprehensively calls upon organizations to submit their best programs for assessment by a panel of expert judges in three categories:

•       Consumer Decision Support: Programs or technologies designed to directly or indirectly impact the consumer/patient where the outcome metric(s) are open to the application (e.g. financial, satisfaction, clinical, or other);

•       Integrated Care Coordination/Management: Programs designed to coordinate or manage the care of consumers/patients among different agents of care; and

•       Patient/Consumer Safety: Programs that are broadly related to patient or consumer safety issues (safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable) where outcomes are limited to health/clinical metrics.

“URAC is a leader in promoting health care quality through its accreditation and certification programs, with an aim to set industry-wide quality standards and promote industry best practices through its education and research agenda,” said Debra L. Friedman, URAC’s senior vice president of strategic marketing and product development. “The Best Practices awards and conference are designed to extend this mission by shining a spotlight on proven best practices within the health care industry. By recognizing activities that specifically improve consumer decision support, integrated care coordination, and consumer/patient safety, this program will provide superior information about best practices and lead the way for increasingly higher quality in health care.”

The top programs will be designated URAC Best Practices award winners and will be honored in an educational setting at the 2008 Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment and Protection, Conference & Exhibit.

Delivering on the promise of consumer empowerment and protection requires developing, analyzing and disseminating knowledge about programs working in the field.

“Through the Best Practices awards and conference, URAC hopes to tap into the elements of organizational commitment that will serve as a guide to the market on how best to engage consumers as partners,” Spielman said.

Consistent with URAC practice, a high level panel of expert judges--industry leaders from health plans, pharmacy benefits management companies, care management companies, and health information technology companies with experience in program evaluation, integrated care coordination, consumer decision support and patient safety—will use objective criteria to evaluate each entry and select winners.

“The idea is to provide for both the health care management industry itself, as well as for purchasers and consumers, a more specific sort of recognition of what companies are really the very best at doing,” Spielman said. “It is consistent with our vision to find ways to promote both consumer empowerment and excellence in health care management. The Best Practices awards and conference is where the two come together and enable us to go beyond the evaluation of the full scope of activities a managed care company is providing, to really hone in on certain practices that are driving value and having a major impact on customers.”

About URAC
URAC, an independent, nonprofit organization, is well-known as a leader in promoting health care quality through its accreditation and certification 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.