First NCQA-Certified Clinical Educational Initiative Launches

New initiative supports primary care clinicians in seeking and renewing PCMH Recognition

WASHINGTON, DC (September 3) — To support clinicians in their efforts to regularly improve and renew their Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition status, The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and its collaborating partners, Med-IQ and ArcheMedX, announce the launch of certified continuing medical education (CME)/continuing education (CE) activities for current PCMH-Recognized practices.

The PCMH model is poised to play a critical role in strengthening the larger health care system and is rooted in the goals of the National Quality Strategy (NQS), which was established as part of the Affordable Care Act. The NCQA PCMH Recognition Program directly supports the key priorities and guiding principles of the Triple Aim of the NQS: (1) better care, (2) healthy people/healthy communities and (3) affordable care. PCMH Recognition is not an endpoint, but a process for validating that a primary care practice is poised for continuous improvement. Nearly 53,000 clinicians at more than 11,000 practices have earned the NCQA PCMH seal to date, and 37 states currently have reimbursement initiatives that take NCQA Recognition into account.

This blended learning program aims to guide health care professionals who are already practicing in a NCQA-Recognized PCMH practice, as well as those who are interested in becoming recognized by NCQA. The first phase of the program is interactive educational workshops held in several locations throughout the country.

At the first of these workshops, Strategies for Success as a Patient-Centered Medical Home, held today in Baltimore, MD, faculty engaged with a highly motivated group of more than 90 participants representing 26 PCMH practices and 166 primary care clinicians to review the most recent evidence-based approaches to screening, treatment and referral. These approaches covered six therapeutic areas that are of central importance to clinicians practicing in a PCMH setting, including:

• Depression
• Diabetes
• Dyslipidemia
• Hepatitis C virus
• Obesity
• Overactive bladder

Next month, NCQA will invite its 11,000 recognized practices to participate in an innovative, team-based, online learning experience powered by the ArcheViewer, an award-winning e-learning delivery and analysis platform. Practices will be able to participate as teams in a 12-part video-based curriculum that will enable each team to engage in a deeper exploration of the clinical topics.

In the coming months, the NCQA, Med-IQ and ArcheMedX teams will be presenting “Aligning Certified Continuing Education with New Practice Models: How Continuing Education Drives Quality Transformation in the Patient-Centered Medical Home” at the 2016 Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions (ACEhp) meeting. This presentation will show how aligning CE activities with new clinical practice models provides the medical education community with a profound opportunity to transform quality and improve care in the United States.

The combined team will also be available at the ACEhp AQS quality meeting onSeptember 28-30, 2015, at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare in Chicago, IL, to answer questions and provide additional detail on the design and implementation of the broad national program.

For more information and workshop locations, e-mail [email protected] or contact:

Andy Reynolds, (202) 955-3518
[email protected]

Matt Brock, (202) 955-1739
[email protected]

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Commercial Support

This activity is supported by educational grants from AbbVie, Allergan, Inc., Amgen, Astellas Pharma US, Inc., AstraZeneca, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Lilly, Sanofi, Sanofi US and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., U.S. Region.

The Collaboration

This program has been conceived, designed, engineered and implemented by the NCQA in partnership with Med-IQ and ArcheMedX. The synergy of these three organizations provides an ideal framework for the development of high-quality, relevant, meaningful education. The NCQA and Med-IQ have partnered for more than 4 years on award-winning, published, performance-based education. ArcheMedX enhances this partnership by delivering a team-based, data-driven, connected learning experience to participants.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA’s Web site (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

About Med-IQ

Med-IQ, America’s most respected provider of continuing medical education (CME), inspires healthcare professionals through award-winning activities that deliver sophisticated outcomes-based educational designs with measurable results in professional competence and performance. Med-IQ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the California Board of Registered Nursing (CBRN), and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing medical education to physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, respectively.

As a leader in the CME industry, Med-IQ has delivered 32 performance improvement (PI) and quality improvement (QI) initiatives that make use of systems-based training such as Crew Resource Management (CRM) to improve team performance and patient outcomes. These initiatives have achieved improvement in healthcare professional performance, quality of care, and patient outcomes. Med-IQ’s work in this space has been published 30 times in peer-reviewed journals, and the company has been recognized by the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions for excellence in CE research (William Campbell Felch Award 2013, 2011), educational collaborations (2013), outstanding CME outcomes assessment (2012), and exceptional leadership and contributions to the CE profession (Leadership Award 2015, 2013; Distinguished Fellow Award 2015; President’s Award 2015, 2012; Rising Star Award 2015). To learn more about Med-IQ, visit www.Med-IQ.com, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and connect with us on LinkedIn.

About ArcheMedX

ArcheMedX is a healthcare informatics and e-learning technology company that is transforming online education through a data-driven approach to learning. By leveraging nearly five decades of cognitive science and years of applied research, the ArcheMedX team developed the ArcheViewer, an award-winning e-learning and analytics platform that enables educators to construct, deliver, and assess more interactive and effective online learning experiences.

ArcheMedX currently partners with dozens of healthcare organizations (national medical societies, leading academic medical centers, and global medical education companies) to power and analyze hundreds of Web-based learning experiences available across dozens of clinical areas. Learners who participate in ArcheViewer-powered education have been found to improve their knowledge and competence at a level nearly four times greater than traditional online education. To learn more, visit www.archemedx.com.