URAC Issues its First International Accreditation: FONEMED North America Accredited for Health Call Centers 

(April 4, 2000) Washington, DC, - URAC, the nation’s leading accreditation body for managed care organizations, has issued its first accreditation to an international health information center.  On March 29, FONEMED North America Inc., providing services to the U.S. and Canada from its Canadian center, was accredited under URAC’s Health Call Center Standards.  

Garry Carneal, URAC President and CEO, said, “The need for quality health care knows no boundaries.  We are pleased that FONEMED recognizes that being measured against quality benchmarks furthers the cause of quality health care delivery for all.”  

Dr. James Broad, Chief Operating Officer of FONEMED North America, said, “ Quality assurance was FONEMED’s first priority in setting up its health information center for all of North America. We found the URAC standards to be an invaluable guide to getting it right the first time. This first international accreditation of a Health Call Center validates our belief that we could integrate the most advanced call management platform and medical protocols in an optimum combination to assure flexibility in meeting client needs.  We could also locate where an ample supply of trained medical personnel gave us a decided price advantage.”  

FONEMED North America provides toll free voice and web access - 24 hours per day, seven days per week - to nurse triage/advice and health information for subscribers and travelers across North America.  FONEMED's program components are:  

• Nurse Advice Line

• Audio and web-based Health Information Library and self-care publications

• Health Counseling

• Complementary Medicine  

Health information centers – in which the best features of medical call centers and Internet health portals converge to provide access to health information, products and services – are becoming an increasingly prominent feature of health care systems worldwide. Many private and public health plans and providers as well as other health benefit programs contract with health call centers to serve as an important source of information for patients, especially when patients’ primary care physicians or members of the health plan staff are unavailable. In many episodes of care, the call center may be a patient’s first point of contact with the health care system.

Kylanne Green, URAC Chairperson, said, “URAC’s first international accreditation marks a bold step forward in fulfilling the mission of promoting continuous improvement in the quality and efficiency of health care delivery.  FONEMED is to be congratulated on being the first of what we expect to be many international accreditations.”

URAC is a non-profit, charitable organization that has issued over 1,600 accreditation certificates to more than 500 managed care organizations doing business in all 50 states. Companies accredited by URAC provide health care services to more than 120 million Americans.  URAC offers nine accreditation programs: Health Plans, Health Networks, Health Utilization Management, Network Practitioner Credentialing, Workers’ Compensation Utilization Management, Workers’ Compensation Networks, Credentials Verification Organizations, Health Call Centers, and Case Management Programs.  URAC has also published: Survey of State Health Utilization Review Laws and Regulations, Models of Care: Case Studies in Healthcare Delivery Innovation, Case Management State Laws, URAC Directory of Accredited Organizations, and The PPO Guide.  URAC will release additional publications soon.  URAC is also involved in several research projects on how to improve patient care.