Healthcare organizations that want to demonstrate professionalism and quality must meet accreditation standards. By receiving accreditation from state, federal, and private organizations, a healthcare facility can show its meeting and/or exceeding defined responsibilities in the industry.
Here’s an overview of healthcare accreditation and some of the reasons why the process is well worth it for both organizations and their patients.
First, What Is Healthcare Accreditation?
Before you learn why accreditation is so important for hospitals, doesn’t it make sense to understand what it is? In a nutshell, accreditation is a review process that shows a healthcare facility is following regulations determined by an external accrediting body. There are numerous accreditation organizations out there that set these standards, with The Joint Commission being one of the most well-respected and well-known.
In order to achieve accreditation, an organization must successfully pass the on-site survey conducted by its accrediting body. This organization sends an industry expert—or a team of trained representatives—to review how well the facility is adhering to its standards. They’ll check the medical records of patients, speak with staff, and leave no stone unturned to ensure every regulation is being met.
Accreditation seems like a complicated and tiring process—so why is it performed? The primary purpose of accrediting a healthcare organization is to demonstrate that they’re providing high-quality care for their patients. By proving that a hospital is able to offer safe and effective services, patients can feel assured that their health is in good hands.
Why Is Accreditation Important in Healthcare?
Given how much time and effort it takes, is accreditation really worth it? Absolutely. By undergoing the accreditation process, healthcare organizations can continue to maintain their standards of quality. In fact, countless studies over the past decade have consistently shown evidence that accreditation improves facilities in more ways than one. But in what ways do quality and safety improve? Here are three major reasons why healthcare accreditation is important:
Improved Patient Care
While accreditation demonstrates an organization can provide the most basic level of treatment, it improves the quality of patient care in several other ways. Accreditation encourages continuous improvement in providers, resulting in bolstered patient safety culture—a benefit that many studies have found evidence for.
Additionally, accreditation studies also discovered that there was a positive relationship between the outcomes of a wide variety of clinical conditions. Also—while the research only looked at two accreditation programs—it’s been documented that patients had considerably reduced mortality when their care centers had high levels of compliance.
Consistency
There’s also evidence that hospitals that participate in accreditation adhere more closely to guidelines—obviously. However, this means that there are fewer differences in the manner in which each staff member and the department provide care for patients. In turn, accreditation will establish consistency across all aspects of the organization.
Efficiency
To continue remaining compliant, organizations may need to improve their processes. Many care providers have found that improving the structure of their facility to better adhere to accreditation standards had the added benefit of optimizing the organization. The Public Health Accreditation Board reported that 90% of respondents in one of their surveys found that accreditation improved their leadership’s management processes.
MedTrainer Can Help With Healthcare Accreditation
Preparing for an accreditation review is a challenging and time-consuming process—many of the studies observing the effectiveness of healthcare accreditation actually found that it can negatively influence the stress levels of hospital employees. That’s why having a virtual program to help with accreditation is an asset. With MedTrainer, your organization can receive a toolkit that makes compliance much easier to implement and manage.
Of course, accreditation is only one aspect of a hospital’s performance. There are many other facets that must also be handled—and MedTrainer can help with them too. We have credentialing software, healthcare learning management systems, and much more. Contact MedTrainer today to learn more and schedule a demo.