Keystone Mercy Health Plan Receives URAC Accreditation for Case Management

January 6, 2010
Philadelphia, PA – Keystone Mercy Health Plan was recently re-accredited by URAC for its PerforMED® case management program. URAC is a leader in the accreditation of health and managed care organizations. Founded in 1990, URAC currently offers more than 16 accreditation programs that span a broad spectrum of health care services. Keystone Mercy, a member of the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies, is the largest Medical Assistance managed care health plan in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

URAC's case management accreditation standards cover staff structure and qualifications, quality improvement, information management, oversight of delegated functions, ethics, complaints, and the overall case management process. The standards also address approaches to ensuring appropriate patient protections have been established, such as policies for confidentiality of patient information, informed consent, dispute resolution and other issues.

“By applying for and receiving URAC accreditation, Keystone Mercy Health Plan has demonstrated a commitment to quality health care," said Alan P. Spielman, URAC president and CEO. "Quality health care is crucial to our nation's welfare and it is important to have organizations that are willing to measure themselves against national standards and undergo rigorous evaluation by an independent accrediting body.”

"Keystone Mercy is proud that we have maintained our URAC accreditation in case management especially since this field is one of the fastest growing fields in health care today. Having strong case managers allows us to provide quality health care to our members," explained Eric J. Berman, DO, MS, Chief Medical Officer, Pennsylvania Managed Care for the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies.

Keystone Mercy has also received URAC disease management accreditation for its heart failure, asthma, diabetes management and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) programs.

About Keystone Mercy Health Plan
Keystone Mercy Health Plan, a member of the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies, is a Medical Assistance (Medicaid) managed care health plan serving more than 300,000 Medical Assistance recipients in southeastern Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Keystone Mercy Health Plan is a mission-driven company dedicated to helping members get care, stay well, and build healthy communities. Its corporate parent partners are Mercy Health System and Keystone First, For more information about Keystone Mercy Health Plan, please visit www.keystonemercy.com.

About URAC
URAC, an independent, nonprofit organization, is well-known as a leader in promoting health care quality through its accreditation, education and measurement programs. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs and services that keep pace with the rapid changes in the health care system, and provide a symbol of excellence for organizations to validate their commitment to quality and accountability. Through its broad-based governance structure and an inclusive standards development process, URAC ensures that all stakeholders are represented in establishing meaningful quality measures for the entire health care industry. For more information, visit www.www.urac.org.