February 27, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. and BOSTON — The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is proud to announce Partners HealthCare’s pre-validation of its Epic electronic health record (EHR) system for requirements related to the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition. This is the first time NCQA has pre-validated an EHR system unique to a specific physician organization.
This pre-validation auto credit means clinicians will spend less time manually submitting data required for NCQA PCMH Recognition and more time providing high quality care to patients in their PCMH recognized physician practices.
“NCQA developed the pre-validation program to help organizations like Partners HealthCare create a more efficient process. We applaud Partners for being pioneers in this area which will help other systems across the country as well.” said NCQA President, Margaret E. O’Kane. “Partners HealthCare is breaking new ground in delivering high quality care.”
Previously, submitting data for PCMH recognition involved using screen shots, workflow documents and completing paperwork, requiring 100 to 150 hours from clinical and administrative staff. Partners is now pre-validated for 53 requirements totaling 33 points which accounts for ~40% of the total points (85) needed for Level III PCMH recognition. Pediatric practices have been pre-validated for 49 requirements totaling 30 points or 35%.
“With this new auto credit, practices are no longer required to provide manual documentation for these NCQA factors, which reduces the administrative burden for practice staff by about half,” says Eric Weil, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Primary Care at Partners HealthCare. “This will benefit our practices, either applying for, or renewing their PCMH recognition through NCQA.”
The first practices at Partners to receive the auto credit include primary care practices at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Newton-Wellesley Hospital. In 2017, over 34 Partners practices are expected to take advantage of this auto credit.
For more information on NCQA’s Prevalidation program:
https://www.ncqa.org/programs/recognition/prevalidation-program