Lumetra awarded a Veterans Health Administration Protected Clinical Peer Review Services contract

Lumetra is pleased to announce that the Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded the California-based healthcare consulting organization a contract for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Protected Clinical Peer Review Services. Effective on September 30, 2009, the contract is for a one-year period, with the VHA having the choice to exercise four option years.

Clinical peer review is a critical review of an episode of care performed by a peer and/or group of peers. Lumetra's contract calls upon the company to address these two objectives:

• To assess the accuracy and adequacy of clinical peer review conducted internally within a VHA Medical Center through an audit of randomly selected as well as high-risk cases.
• To provide external expertise in order to conduct the primary clinical peer review of selected episodes of care, either upon request of a facility or for other special circumstances.

Lumetra has an extensive and robust peer review network of physicians, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals.

The VHA is the largest Federal provider of healthcare, with 152 medical centers and 732 associated outpatient clinics. The VHA's clinical peer review program is a critical element of their quality management and demonstrates the agency's continuing commitment to provide the highest possible healthcare quality to America's veterans.

Queried as to how this major contract was won, Lumetra CEO Linda Sawyer, PhD, RN, stated: "Lumetra offered the VHA the best solution to meet the unique healthcare needs of our veteran population."

Patricia Daniel, BSN, CPHQ, Lumetra Vice President added, "American veterans contend with a unique set of medical issues, when compared to other subsets of populations, such as Medicaid or Medicare recipients."

"In addition," she concluded, "because of our lengthy experience handling confidential medical records, we are able to meet the VHA's confidentiality and security requirements. Moreover, the VHA's use of electronic health records, resulting in online clinical record review, plays to our organization's strengths."