What is accreditation free essay sample

Accreditation is a process characterized by a neutral organization or an authoritative institution recognizing, evaluating, monitoring and reviewing the businesses or services provided by that of another organization.   The organization that provides accreditation makes sure that the services provided or products manufactured meet certain standards, consistently.   Once the organization meets the standards, the fact of accreditation can be advertised, and people would know that they are obtaining products or services that meet certain well-known standards of quality. 2. Why is it important? Accreditation in the healthcare industry helps in maintaining the quality standards in this vital sector.   Quality control organizations are frequently being referred to as ‘Watchdogs’ by certain managed care companies.   Quality control organizations not only provide accreditation to large companies and organizations but also to small-practice physicians, group practices and others. The information provided by accreditation organizations is often utilized by customers, clients and employers to make informed decisions regarding healthcare choices. We will write a custom essay sample on What is accreditation? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page    The main aim of these quality control organizations is to develop, maintain and slowly improve certain standards of quality in healthcare organizations.   This information is further generated to customers and employers who are to make further decisions about healthcare.   Usually the accreditation organizations are constituted by employers, physicians, policy makers, ethicists, nurses, administrators, labor representatives, advocates, educators, and even customers. They cooperate and work towards improving healthcare, making programs and making sure that the needs of a diverse community (culturally and linguistically) are being met.   Several aspects such as finance, ethics and quality of the healthcare services are usually being monitored.   Accreditation also provides greater competition in the market, as all the companies would want to improve the quality of their services.   In the healthcare industry, error is being considered as a severe detriment to the well-being of the patient, and through accreditation, these errors can be kept to a minimum.   Initiatives can also be made to provide information and education of the customers, and safety control in the organization.   The structure and several management processes present in the organizations can be improved.   Through an improvement in the safety standards, the insurance costs would be brought down. There is also a decreased need for government inspection and control for Medicare and Medicaid.   Accredited organizations also seem to be very attractive to qualified professionals as they would feel that their jobs are much safer in an accredited organization.   The accreditation organizations also work with other medical societies and associations such as the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Physicians, the American Dental Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Hospital Association. 3. What organizations accredit managed care organizations in the U.S.? Managed care is be accredited by several accreditation organizations such as the Joint Commission (JC), Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) and National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).   NCQAS began to accredit managed care organizations (MCO) from the year 1991, as information regarding the quality standards of such organizations were often being demanded by the customers, employers and the Government.   Business is often not being conducted with MCO’s not having accreditation. 4. What is involved in the accreditation process? (In other words, what do they look at? Do they make site visits?) Accreditation is usually subscribed to by the managed care organization on a voluntary basis.   The accreditation organizations reviews several aspects such as safety, confidentiality, consumer protection, patient rights, infection control, service, access, improvement, use of qualified staff, etc.   The accreditation company releases a healthcare quality report every year, and based on quality, it ranks the healthcare organizations and health plans or packages provided.   Several variables or clinical quality measures are being studied during the accreditation process.   Information of these measures is collected from sources present in the market (such as surveys). These measures are being compared, and based on their values, the performance of several managed care organizations are assessed.   The value of the measures is thoroughly audited by certified auditors.   If an organization is able to do the right thing in the right manner, there are greater chances that it would be fulfilling patient satisfaction, and meet the standards.   Efforts are made by the accreditation organizations to continuously monitor the actual performance standards and enable uninterrupted improvement in these standards in the managed care organizations. References: NCQA. Overview-NCQA. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from NCQA Web site: http://www.ncqa.org/Communications/Publications/overviewncqa.pdf NCQA (2006). New NCAQ Program Offers Awards to Health Plans, Grants to Doctors’ Offices That Help Bridge Health Care Disparity. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from NCQA Web site: http://www.ncqa.org/communications/news/clas.htm NCQA (2007). New NCQA Program Will Recognize Excellence in Caring for Back Pain. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from NCQA Web site: http://www.ncqa.org/ The Joint Commission (2007). Benefits of Joint Commission Accreditation. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from The Joint Commission Web site:   http://www.jointcommission.org/HTBAC/benefits_accreditation.htm The Joint Commission. (2007). Facts about The Joint Commission. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from The Joint Commission Web site: http://www.jointcommission.org/AboutUs/joint_commission_facts.htm Tuft Managed Care Institute (1998). A Brief History of Managed Care. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from TMCI Web site: http://www.thci.org/downloads/BriefHist.pdf