Newswise — UC San Diego Health is proud to announce it has earned ClearHealth Quality Institute (CHQI) accreditation for telemedicine. CHQI is an independent health care accrediting body that offers the only telemedicine or telehealth accreditation program in the nation, backed by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).

“UC San Diego Health is one of a few health systems in the United States to receive this prestigious accreditation,” said Brett C. Meyer, MD, medical director of enterprise telemedicine at UC San Diego Health. “This award confirms our ability to provide best-in-class telemedicine care, anywhere.”

By achieving this status, UC San Diego Health demonstrates to consumers, the medical community, regulators and other stakeholders that its telemedicine policies, programs and processes meet the clinical, legal, technological, and administrative standards set by CHQI to advance safety and quality.

Meyer, a telestroke specialist and provider himself, said, “Our robust telemedicine platforms, such as telestroke, show that we can not only provide comprehensive telemedicine services, but that we are certified and quantifiably able to provide high quality of care to our regional and distant communities.”

“This accreditation is an enormous achievement — the result of numerous hours of collaboration among our telehealth and hospital leadership teams,” added Lisa Moore, MPH, telehealth program director at UC San Diego Health. “We have created a model of care that helps bring top experts in academic medicine to every region of California, regardless of geography.”

The telemedicine service at UC San Diego is utilized by doctors and patients in both ambulatory and emergency room settings, said Larry Friedman, MD, associate dean of clinical affairs, UC San Diego Health. The service offers expert telehealth consults in more than 25 subspecialties, including telestroke, teleneurology, telecritical care and telemental health, including second opinion services. More than eight hospitals in California utilize UC San Diego Health’s telemedicine services. “We created telemedicine at UC San Diego Health to provide health care to patients anywhere in the world,” said Friedman. “Our motto is ‘UCSD Everywhere.’”

CHQI telemedicine accreditation covers three different modules: consumer-to-provider (such as physician or nurse triage services); provider-to-consumer (such as an ongoing provider/patient relationship including mental health counseling); and provider-to-provider (such as specialty consults, including teleradiology). Accredited entities can be accredited for multiple specific service lines.

“Our Second Opinion Medical Records Review Program is an excellent option for physicians who want to offer their patients all possible options for care,” said Friedman. “UC San Diego Health physicians and surgeons work with doctors, locally, nationally and internationally to review their patients’ medical histories and diagnostic records to formulate comprehensive plans of care.”

“UC San Diego Health represents a new standard of quality in the delivery of telemedicine in our country,” said CHQI founder Garry Carneal, JD, MA. “By completing the CHQI Telemedicine Accreditation Program’s application and demonstration process, UC San Diego Health took part in substantive assessment process through which it received meaningful, constructive feedback to improve operations.”

“Given the explosive growth of telehealth,” added Michael Gomes, Chief Executive Officer at CHQI, “it is crucial, now more than ever, to have a nationally recognized seal of approval specifically for an organization’s telemedicine services. The CHQI Telemedicine Accreditation Program seal fills that void and brings a much-needed level of vetted credibility to telehealth.”

Contributors to the telemedicine initiative at UC San Diego Health include Friedman, Casey Gage, Stacy Holberg, Matthew Jenusaitis, Meyer, Marlene Millen, MD, Lisa Moore, MPH, and Venktesh Ramnath, MD.

To learn more about the UC San Diego Health telemedicine program visit health.ucsd.edu/specialties/telehealth