NCQA Creates New Ambulatory Connected Care Standards

On July 7, 2014, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released standards for a proposed program to evaluate ambulatory care clinics that provide patient-centered care and work in conjunction with patient-centered medical homes. The program, tentatively named Patient-Centered Connected Care (PCCC), concerns ambulatory care provided outside a traditional primary care practice by diverse entities such as telemedicine provider organizations, worksite clinics, urgent care clinics, and retail clinics. In creating the PCCC, NCQA seeks to encourage non-traditional primary care provider organizations to assimilate into virtual medical "neighborhoods" and share information and coordinate care with the patient . . .