Hamden, CT, January, 2017 - VantagePoint Healthcare Advisors became certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Credentials Verification Organization (CVO) for 9 out of 10 verification services in March 2016. (Certification for the 10th verification service is pending.) While VantagePoint has been providing quality credentialing and enrollment services to medical organizations for over ten years, its new status as an NCQA-certified CVO is a significant distinction that opens up new horizons for the firm's team of healthcare advisors. Presently, NCQA lists fewer than 90 such firms nationwide, while the demand for the expert credentialing and primary source verification support services they provide is expanding rapidly.
Continuing its commitment to respond to emerging trends, VantagePoint is now strategically positioned to meet this demand on behalf of hospitals, health plans, state governments, healthcare organizations and medical practices nationwide. These entities are responding to a variety of factors including heightened scrutiny by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health plans, ACA implementation, and a desire to take advantage of new incentives that exist for providers to demonstrate quality improvement and a focus on patient safety. Because these providers seek to meet NCQA standards in their credentialing process, the advantage of getting assistance from an NCQA-certified verification organization such as VantagePoint is attractive and extremely significant.
A statement from Margaret E. O'Kane, President of NCQA affirms that "Achieving CVO certification from NCQA demonstrates that VantagePoint has the systems, process and personnel in place to thoroughly and accurately verify provider' credentials and help health plan clients meet their accreditation goals."
The nine specific verification services for which VantagePoint is certified are:
License to Practice, DEA Registration, Medical Board Sanctions, Education and Training, Ongoing Monitoring, Malpractice Claims History, Medicaid/Medicare Sanctions, Work History,
and Practitioner Application Processing
.
More About Credentialing, the NCQA and CVO Certification
In the healthcare industry, Credentialing is defined as the process of obtaining, verifying, and assessing the qualifications, background, and legitimacy of the licensure, education and training of physicians and other practitioners. It basically is the validation that the practitioner is qualified and competent to provide quality healthcare services and receive reimbursement for those services.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of healthcare organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA is committed to providing healthcare quality information for consumers, purchasers, healthcare providers and researchers.
CVO Certification includes rigorous on-site evaluations conducted by a team of health care professionals and certified credentialing specialists. A national oversight committee of physicians analyzes the team's finding and determines certification based on the CVO's compliance with NCQA standards.
