The Compliance Team - Transforming Community Pharmacy Accreditation [video]

Company Background 

2019 marks 25 years since nurse entrepreneur Sandra C. Canally, RN, formed The Compliance Team, Inc. (TCT), the nation’s first certified, woman-owned, nationally recognized healthcare accreditation organization (AO). The company’s stated mission from its start in 1994 has been to facilitate a dramatic transformation of healthcare accreditation by simplifying the overly complex and burdensome validation process of that time into a more reliable, consumer-friendly, indicator of patient care quality. “Simplification leads to clarity, and clarity allows the provider to focus on improving their everyday services to their patients and their own bottom lines,” according to Canally, who also happens to be the principal author and architect of TCT’s industry leading suite of operations-based accreditation programs. The first of her paradigm-shifting Exemplary Provider® Award programs were formally launched in 1998. In March 1999, North Carolina Blue Cross/Blue Shield was the first major managed care entity to formally recognize TCT as an accreditation choice. Today, the firm is recognized by managed care entities nationwide as well as being approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to accredit Part A-Rural Health Clinic (RHC) and Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) practitioners; and Part B-Durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, supplies (DMEPOS) providers. It’s the only healthcare accreditation organization authorized by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to confer Exemplary Provider® accredited status. 

Process Overview 

TCT was the first AO to develop plain language accreditation quality standards, as well as the product-line and service specific evidence of compliance that accompanies each standard. As a result, the firm’s programs for community pharmacy gives independents along with chains a cost-effective means to validate quality claims across the full spectrum of their business operations and patient care practices. TCT’s Community Rx plus DMEPOS and Patient-Centered Pharmacy Home™ accreditation programs focus on the expanding roles that pharmacists play in the nation’s healthcare delivery system. Service specific and scalable, the programs serve as blueprints for helping pharmacy operations reach the highest levels of value-based care by establishing protocols and measures for medication therapy management (MTM), coordination of care with prescribers, and medication reconciliation. The firm’s pharmacy home (PCPH) program evolved from its Medicareapproved Patient-Centered Medical Home accreditation program for Part A practitioners. “We felt that there needed to be an accreditation designation for those pharmacy providers who are practicing at the top of their license,” Canally explained. As a business owner, Canally is ever mindful of the impact that TCT’s programs have on a provider’s bottom line. “It was our intention from the start to have service specific Exemplary Provider®-accredited designations for pharmacies so they can use them to attract new referral sources and patients. It will give them a leg up on their competition, and perhaps even lead to higher reimbursements for the extraordinary services they provide,” she added. 

Operations-Based Quality Improvement 

Patient-Centered Pharmacy Home™ is the first accreditation program of its kind. It is purposely designed to help pharmacies act as the medication management hub for complex high-risk patients; helping them prevent unnecessary emergency department visits and lead more independent lives. New pharmacy participants get expert accreditation advisor mentoring throughout the program’s implementation. All relevant day-to-day business and patient care practices are addressed. Included is a series of comprehensive webinars covering: administration, patient services, infection control, risk management, corporate compliance, human resources, and government regulatory measures. Special attention is given to patient care management and planning, as well as pharmacist/ prescriber communications and coordination. 

Value-Added Services Make TCT Different 

TCT’s pharmacy programs include: On-going mentoring, policy and procedure templates, self-assessment checklists, and corporate compliance/ anti-fraud plans. A subscription to TCT’s national patient satisfaction reporting and benchmarking web portal is also included as another valueadded feature. TCT’s secure Patient Quality Measurement™ (PQM™) also happens to be the industry’s oldest such database holding the results of over 2-million (16-million data points and counting) standardized patient satisfaction questionnaires. It all adds up to an unrivaled accreditation value that benefits patients, the public, and third-party payers while giving community pharmacy and advanced practice pharmacies the recognition they deserve for performing at the top of their license.