AMC Health, a leading provider of 'real-time' patient management solutions has announced that it will collaborate with URAC on its national telehealth standards development initiative. Peter Kapolas, Vice President, Quality and Process Improvement and Chief Privacy Officer at AMC Health, and URAC Health Standards Committee member joins the Expert Panel and will also serve as liaison between the two groups.
AMC Health has been advancing monitored care since its founding in 2002. Its clinical, analytics and technology expertise has driven the development of highly effective patient management solutions that connect patients with their clinical teams on a 'real-time' basis, expanding their care beyond the walls of hospitals and doctors' offices.
AMC Health's telehealth-based programs have consistently delivered improvements in health outcomes and reductions in costs of care for the chronically ill and patients transitioning from hospital to home. Several have been validated in its industry leading portfolio of rigorous, peer-reviewed, published clinical studies. These document improvements in HbA1c levels among patients with diabetes by 1.8 points; improvements in blood pressure levels for patients with hypertension by 11/6 mmHg; reductions in all-cause hospital readmissions by 20 percent; and reductions in costs of care for patients with heart failure by $2,592 per patient per year, delivering a program ROI of 3.3 to 1. AMC Health's Remote Patient Monitoring and Engagement Solutions have also earned the exclusive endorsement of the American Hospital Association.
As telehealth-based services accelerate the transformation of chronic care and population health management, URAC has identified the need to establish national standards and effective quality measures for these services. The goal is to facilitate risk mitigation by providers and promote consumer protection through ethical operations in accordance with federal and state restrictions and protections. These standards are being established by a panel of experts who will establish, verify and validate specific standards from a clinical, ethical, security and privacy perspective. Specific standards will be developed for compliance with healthcare laws & regulations, ethics in healthcare, risk management for consumer protection, credentialing of clinical staff and practitioners, technology, consumer access to care and services, consumer education, care coordination, performance monitoring and reporting, and measures reporting.
"The confluence of healthcare and technology has improved the quality of care delivery for decades," said URAC President and CEO Kylanne Green. "Telehealth encompasses a broad set of technologies to educate, communicate and monitor health care delivery, especially to underserved communities. Effective telehealth methods will be an important component of successful implementations of accountable care and clinical integration. Creating national telehealth standards is our latest initiative to support URAC's mission of promoting continuous improvement in the quality and efficiency of healthcare management."
Telehealth standards are expected to be drafted by mid-year, and URAC will circulate them for public comment. This will be followed by launch of a beta version, which is expected later this year. URAC accreditations are expected to be awarded in 2016.
"Our goal at AMC Health is to improve healthcare effectiveness and efficiency, and we believe that driving widespread adoption of effective telehealth services will help achieve that goal," said Nesim Bildirici, Founder and CEO of AMC Health. "Since 2002, we have gained a phenomenal amount of insight that continues to guide development of our telehealth-based programs, and peer-reviewed, published studies have proven their effectiveness. We are proud to contribute our expertise toward the establishment of national telehealth standards that will benefit patients and healthcare providers."
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