WASHINGTON — URAC, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious accrediting organizations announced Monday that they have expanded their offerings for small mail service pharmacies, thereby opening the possibility for those organizations to earn accreditation to demonstrate their quality and commitment to outstanding patient outcomes. Many Americans are served by these smaller organizations and URAC strongly believes that price should never be a factor in whether an organization aims to improve quality through pursuing accreditation.

URAC accreditation helps to improve the quality of health care and management delivered by pharmacies of all sizes and acts as a key differentiator and independent validation of quality.

URAC has established a new offering for small mail service pharmacies that are seeking accreditation in recognition that health care organizations of all sizes benefit from a URAC accreditation. The new offering joins the already-existing Small Specialty Pharmacy Offering, which URAC successfully launched in 2019. URAC aims to reduce the financial barrier to entry so that smaller mail service pharmacies can earn recognition for their quality activities, demonstrate their value in caring for their members and patients and deliver the best outcomes. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, mail service pharmacies play an increasingly vital and growing role in health care as more Americans are having their medication shipped to them.

URAC clients know that accreditation helps improve health care quality and adherence, first as organizations are encouraged to strengthen policies and procedures as part of the accreditation process and later through URAC’s annual measures submitting process. Recognizing that many health care organizations throughout the ecosystem have faced significant fiscal challenges during the pandemic, URAC made the decision to reduce the price of their accreditation to ensure that cost is not a barrier to improving health outcomes.

“These times are particularly difficult and health care has been especially challenging during the pandemic,” said Dr. Shawn Griffin, URAC’s president and CEO. URAC aims to be part of the solution for health care quality in this uncertain time and beyond. “We want to help health care organizations make the best decisions to improve their quality and knowing we can make the accreditation decision easier for them by offering this new lower pricing, we are happy to do so,” added Griffin.

URAC stands with its clients and all health care organizations during the pandemic and its aftermath.