Accreditation news and information

URAC, a Washington-based healthcare measurement and accreditation organization, has named Kylanne Green president and CEO, effective July 22. Green succeeds Alan Spielman, who left his post Feb. 15 after serving as president and CEO since 2005.
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As the U.S. faces a shortage of physicians—potentially more than 90,000 by 2020—medical schools are seeking to counteract the deficiency with higher enrollments.
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The nation's largest hospital accreditation organization has issued a warning to hospitals about the dangers of alarm fatigue, which can occur when clinicians become desensitized to the incessant beeping of medical device alarms.
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Limiting first-year medical residents to a 16-hour work shift was intended to improve patient safety while enhancing the educational experience, but two studies suggest the opposite may be occurring.
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Specialists and medical societies are cheering the launch of a medical-home-type recognition program for specialty practices, an option they say will extend the emphasis on care coordination outside of primary care and ease communication among providers.
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Participants are praising a National Cancer Institute-funded initiative's impact on disparities and outcomes.
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Since 1985, residency programs have had the option to be dual-accredited by both M.D. and D.O. organizations. In 2015, all D.O. and M.D. programs will be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, eliminating any legal or licensing distinction between the two.
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Joint Commission-accredited acute-care and critical-care hospitals whose ambulatory-care offerings include primary-care services can now receive additional certification as a primary-care medical home.
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HHS on Wednesday released a final regulation on the health reform law's essential health benefits, actuarial value and accreditation provisions that closely follows the department's proposed rule from last November.
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The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is the first children's hospital to earn the National Committee for Quality Assurance's accreditation as an accountable care organization.
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