Essay on Accreditation in Healthcare Organizations

Accreditation refers to a public recognition by a body of the national health care accreditation which regulates a Health Care organization towards maintaining its standards ("Accreditation - Wikipedia," n.d.). The body acts as an independent body which does peer assessment of the health organization if it meets the standards through reviewing its performance. A statutory and as well as a voluntary body can't tend to perform accreditation on a given business as long as the body will lead to the development of the organization and as well the services offered at the health care Centre by the implementation of external assessments through the use of standards that have been published. It will help the body to be in a position to determine if the health Centre is in a position to provide services which are of quality assurance and as well as if it complies with the international Standards. When it comes to the performance of the accreditation a multidisciplinary team is employed. The team comprises of professional from the health sector. They do the assessment through checking of the equipments that are being used at the health Centre, through surveying of a health Centre, interviews, checking the health Centres documentation concerning their mission statement and as well as an appraisal of the data at the organization. There is mandatory accreditation this is where the assessment of the hospital is done by the government.

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Accreditation tends to improve the way in which a health care takes care of their patients and also the quality of its outcomes is increased. The implementation of accreditation in a hospital may be affected by various factors which lead the hospitals not been assessed by such bodies. One of the factors is that a hospital could not be in a position to raise enough funds that are required. For acceptable assurance systems which are of high quality, a hospital and as well as a health Centre should be in a position to satisfy and reimburse agencies through the provision of care that is of high quality (Seear, 2015).

The accountability of a health care is significantly impacted by accreditation. It gives the hospital the chance to be involved in Medicare which may in turn result to being a primary source of funding towards it.Medicare tends to provide the hospital with a significant share of reimbursement. It is possible through helping the hospital to be able to fulfill its bond indentures requirements in the health sector and participation in various programs (Ellis & Whittington, 1994). It will assist in the health Centre to be able to improve and facilitate more in the taking care of the patients.

Poor communication and also engagement between the staff could result in the implementation of accreditation in a hospital becoming difficult. The manner in which the management of the hospital conducts the process will tend to affect the quality of services that are offered. A single team being involved could successfully help in the implementation of the accreditation process.

Accreditation forms the basis of good communication between the personnel and the patients and as well with the management. It is because the process involves the staff and also senior management and gives the management a chance to share the organization's fundamental values. Accreditation makes the stuff to be highly motivated. They can work as a team, and this helps in improvement in the quality of their work, and also this will help the staff to be willing to undertake development initiatives which are of high quality and will benefit the health community as a whole (Lynch & Duval, 2011).

Accreditation will assist in the safety of the patient. It will enhance quality management in the hospital. For example by ensuring that the hospital accurately documents a patients medical report through filing, ensuring that the hospital performs regular audits. It will contribute to ensuring that the patients are not overcharged while there and the funds collected are invested in a manner which of great benefit to the patients. Accreditation implementation hence in a hospital improves the safety of the patient through ensuring that the treatment services are standardized (Wealleans, 1900)

Accreditation is of great importance to a hospital because it leads to managerial efficiency and also reduced costs for the patients. They will be able to be treated several diseases at one hospital hence reduction of costs since he does not have to incur transport cost going to different hospitals and also will not have to pay consultation fee at various hospitals. These also helps to create credibility with the patients insuring body.

Accreditation is also of great importance because it helps in the promotion of the management systems and also supports the staff education through the implementation of learning programs and through that they are able to acquire new skills and also promote team building among them. Accreditation is of importance to a hospital since it tends to give it a brand image which is symbolic in nature. It acts as a marketing strategy of the hospital towards its patients or even the government when the hospital needs to be funded on a particular project they are carrying out. It helps a hospital to be identified differently with another hospital this helps promote the patients safety as he will not confuse it with another hospital which offers low-quality services Joint Commission International, & Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2017).

There are three main International Healthcare Accreditors that is the Australian Council for Healthcare Standards International (ACHSI) which is in Australia, the Joint Commission International (JCI) which is usually based in the USA and the third one is the Accreditation Canada that is located in Canada.

My organization is accredited by the Joint Commission International. The mission of JCI is to ensure that it helps health organizations that are International, health agencies which are public and the ministries of health towards ensuring that a hospital provides high-quality services to the patient and also works in a manner that does not put the patient at risk across the world. This body tends to assess eight programs that are carried out in a health Centre. Some of these programs include the clinical laboratories, the home care facilities in the case of the patients who are treated while at home, the organizations related to medical transport and as well as the long-term care facilities. The patients who choose to come and receive treatment from our hospital get a greater advantage as those who go to hospitals that are not accredited by JCI. It is because the patient is sure that the hospital has more than one Care Program Certification hence leading to high-quality services being offered to the patient as he can be treated a variety of diseases (Joint Commission International & Joint Commission Resources, Inc.1999).

For a hospital that wants to enforce accreditation for its first time, a survey is carried out so as to check if it adheres to the many APRs. If a hospital is found that it does comply with the APRs, it is required to submit a SIP, or in turn, it will result in it being denied accreditation. After that, the hospital is required to provide to the Joint Commission International accurate data and information concerning the accreditation process. A health Centre that seeks to be accredited by the JCL, the survey team visits it in every three years. Throughout the survey, the team observes how the hospital is operated, how the hospital carries out its interviews and also checks if it meets certain standards through reviewing the documentation filed at the hospital (Spath, 2013).

The Joint Commission Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is a semi-regulatory body which is considered as one of the most efficient body towards the reduction of errors in a health Centre and also the introduction and implementation of incentives which are highly meant to enhance the security of a patient. The mission of this particular body is to ensure that it continuously promote the quality of the health service that is offered at a hospital this is through conducting of various research. It helped in the establishment of the Joint Commission International (In Oster, In Braaten, & Sigma Theta Tau International, 2016)

The difference between accreditation and other certificates is that a certificate tends to act as a confirmation that a particular client operates his business according to a set of requirements which are reserved by a standard party while the assessment bodies tend to carry out those the activities related to certification. The International Organization for Standardization is mostly involved in the production of various standards. A certain group is the developed so as to help the ISO in ensuring the services and products that are delivered are of high quality, they are safe to be used by the customers, and also they do not cause harm to the environment (Ellis & Whittington, 1994).

In conclusion, a hospital that is accredited by a regulatory body tends to serve their patients in a more professional ways and increase the patients security. Organizations should be accredited by other agencies because it leads to staff being engaged more in the activities of the hospital, it leads to team building it also improves the communication process between the staff and the management as well with the patients they are serving.

References

Accreditation - Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 29, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accreditation

Arnason, S. T., & Willett, K. D. (2008). How to achieve 27001 certification: An example of applied compliance management. New York: Auerbach Publications.

Ellis, R., & Whittington, D. (1994). Quality assurance in health care: A handbook. London u.a.: E. Arnold.

In Oster, C., In Braaten, J., & Sigma Theta Tau International. (2016). High reliability organizations: A healthcare handbook for patient safety & quality.

Joint Commission International, & Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. (2017). Joint Commission International accreditation standards for hospitals: Including standards for Academic Medical Center Hospitals. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Joint Commission Resources.

Joint Commission International, & Joint Commission Resources, Inc. (1999). Joint Commission International accreditation standards for hospitals. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Joint Commission Resources.

Lynch, V. A., & Duval, J. B. (2011). Forensic nursing science. St. Louis: Mosby/Elsevier.

Seear, D. J. (2015). ISO 9001:2015 into the future: A review of the "core" standards and how they should be interpreted when updating your quality management system to ISO 9001:2015.

Spath, P. (2013). Introduction to healthcare quality management.

Wealleans, D. (1900). The quality audit for IS0 9001: 2000: a practical guide. Aldershot, Hampshire.