Hospital accreditation is a voluntary program that measures hospital safety, staff competence, and overall quality of patient care. Accreditation is granted or denied by independent accrediting agencies, and benefits include improved physician retention and the ability to attract patients and grant money. Hospitals often choose to participate in accreditation programs to distinguish their services and identify internal problems. Inspectors typically meet after observation time to decide whether to grant accreditation. Accreditation is not required but is an asset, as patients often seek care only from accredited hospitals and grants are available only to accredited hospitals.
Hospital accreditation is a voluntary grading and evaluation program that measures hospital safety, staff competence, and the overall quality of patient care. Accreditation is generally granted or denied by independent accrediting agencies that are not affiliated with either the hospital or any type of official government body. Agencies conduct objective studies of how participating hospitals operate. If granted, accreditation acts as a sort of ‘seal of approval’ for hospitals. Accreditation is not typically required to operate hospitals, or even to receive government funding, but it can be an asset. The benefits of hospital accreditation include, among other things, improved physician retention and a greater ability to attract patients and grant money.
In most countries, hospitals are bound by national law to maintain certain health and safety standards. While national requirements are often stringent, they do little more than provide broad strokes of appropriate hospital conduct. Hospital executives and boards of directors, as well as others such as patients, insurance companies and private lenders, often want to know more than whether a hospital meets minimum standards. Hospitals often choose to participate in hospital accreditation programs as a way to distinguish their services. Accreditation can also help hospitals identify internal problems and fix potential pitfalls before they become bigger problems.
There are typically no set rules governing who can carry out hospital accreditation services, and consequently there may be several different types of accreditation offered in a given location. Most of the time, however, there is an accreditation service in each country that is recognized as authoritative. This service is usually responsible for providing accreditation assessment services to any hospital that wishes, anywhere in the country. Accreditation is a significant undertaking in any jurisdiction, but the task can be quite significant in large countries such as Canada and the United States.
Obtaining hospital accreditation is usually a matter of hiring an accreditation service to carry out an assessment. Hospitals that choose to participate open their doors to scrutiny and invite accreditation evaluators to investigate any hospital event. Most of the time, the accreditation service will send a team of inspectors to the hospital to observe over a period of weeks or months. Inspectors are usually medical experts, hospital safety consultants, or others with in-depth knowledge of how hospitals should be run.
Inspectors typically meet after the required observation time has elapsed to share notes and decide whether to grant hospital accreditation. Premiums usually depend on a variety of factors. Often, these factors come in the form of both an objective checklist and subjective impressions of inspectors.
Most of the time, the accreditation service will present the hospital with a full report along with its decision. The report will explain the reasons behind the decision in more detail and present any observations of note, even those that were not influential in determining accreditation. Even hospitals that regularly meet accreditation standards usually find the reports useful as a means of self-evaluation, as they identify problems and outcomes that the hospital may have difficulty seeing objectively about itself.
Private hospital accreditation is never a requirement, but is usually an asset. A hospital that can present itself as accredited by the main national accreditation body is able to convey to the public that the work it does is safe and sound. It is common for patients to seek care only from an accredited hospital, and many medical grants and private grants are available only to accredited hospitals.
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