ELEVEN SOFTWARE VENDORS RECEIVE NCQA’S SOFTWARE CERTIFICATIONSM
Health plans using certified vendors’ software exempt from source code review during HEDIS 2009 Compliance Audit™
WASHINGTON—The National Committee for Quality Assurance announced today the certification of eleven software vendors for their Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®)-related software. The software collects HEDIS data from health plan databases and calculates HEDIS results across 61 measures of care and service.
“Earning certification shows that a software product can be relied upon to accurately collect and report results. We commend the vendors who have earned certification for their commitment to quality,” said Mary Braman, NCQA Director for Licensure and Certification.
NCQA Software Certification demonstrates to prospective health plan customers the product’s integrity and its ability to produce accurate and reliable results. Health plans using NCQA-Certified Software save time and resources by forgoing the manual source code review portion of the HEDIS Compliance Audit and P4P Audit Review.
NCQA validates software by generating unique sets of test data that vendors process using their software. The output is compared to the expected results to determine if the software computes results in accordance with the specifications.
The 2009 NCQA-Certified HEDIS vendors are:
- Austin Provider Solutions, Inc.
- Catalyst Technologies, Inc
- DST Health Solutions, Inc.
- ikaSystems Corporation
- IMI Health
- ManagedCare.com
- McKesson Health Solutions, LLC
- MedAssurant, Inc.
- Q Mark, Inc.
- TIERMED SYSTEMS, LLC
- ViPS®, a General Dynamics Information Technology Company
One vendor— Innoapp, LLC—is currently seeking certification.
Certified Software products collect and report HEDIS performance measures new for 2009, including:
- Adult BMI Assessment
- Weight Assessment and Counseling for Nutrition and Physical Activity for Children/Adolescents
- Care for Older Adults
- Medication Reconciliation Post-Discharge.
In addition, nine vendors are seeking Partial Software Certification. These vendors test a subset of HEDIS measures or the P4P measurement set. Each vendor completing partial certification receives a final certification report indicating which measures were tested. To date, one vendor, Verisk Health, Inc., formally known as D2Hawkeye, Inc., has received Partial HEDIS Software Certification. Two more vendors, Milliman, Inc. and Outcomes Health Information Solutions, are currently seeking Partial HEDIS Software Certification.
For more information on HEDIS Software Certification and to learn how to become a certified vendor, visit www.ncqa.org/HEDIS/softcert.aspx or contact Anne Smith, Program Director, Software Certification at smith@ncqa.org
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA evaluates, accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care, protecting the lives of more than 100 million Americans. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.
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