Going abroad for medical tourism can be a tedious task. What is the guarantee that your hospital of choice matches up to the claims of service stated on its website? Healthcare accreditation programs take the guesswork out of the process by pre-approving a given hospital’s standards of service. A lot of hospitals will prominently display their accreditation on their website.

1. A Medical Tourist’s Guide
To Healthcare
Accreditations

2. Going abroad for medical tourism can be a tedious
task. What is the guarantee that your hospital of
choice matches up to the claims of service stated on
its website? Healthcare accreditation programs take
the guesswork out of the process by pre-approving a
given hospital’s standards of service. A lot of
hospitals will prominently display their accreditation
on their website.

3. What is Healthcare Accreditation?
• Healthcare accreditation is a voluntary initiative (typically supported
by a non-governmental organization), to assess the quality of good
and safe standards of healthcare in a hospital/clinic/lab. Healthcare
experts assess a health care association’s consistence and compare it
with pre-built up standards.
• Accreditation frameworks are organized to give objective standards to
the outside assessment of value and quality administration. At the
heart of these plans is a number of benchmarks which serve to survey
in an orderly and thorough way the standards of expert execution in a
hospital. Given below is a list of the organizations involved in
healthcare accreditation.

4. Umbrella Organizations
The work of umbrella organisations is not to
survey and accredit hospitals themselves. Instead,
umbrella organizations approve the organisations
that actually accredit the hospitals. In other
words, umbrella organizations ‘acccredit the
accreditors’.

5. 1. International society for quality in health
care (ISQua)
It is a non-profit autonomous association with members
in more than 70 nations. It attempts to give assistance to
guide health experts, suppliers and scientists. It works to
achieve perfection in providing healthcare to all
individuals and to enhance the quality and security of
care. As of May 2009, ISQua has accredited 13
associations, 28 sets of standards and 2 surveyor
preparing projects.

6. ISQua gives a four-year accreditation cycle for:
• National accreditation bodies
• Service particular outside assessment bodies
(Blood transfusion, Autism services)
• Health consideration standards
• Surveyor training programs

7. All ISQua accreditation include:
• An arrangement of globally accepted norms
• A self-evaluation process
• Evaluation discoveries and composed reports
• Formal proposals
• An accreditation recompense from ISQua
• Ongoing observation and change

8. 2. The United Kingdom Accreditation Service
(UKAS)
United Kingdom Accreditation Service is the sole
national healthcare accreditation body
recognized by the government to evaluate, against
universally established standards, associations that
give certification, testing, and assessment services.

9. Healthcare accreditation Accredited by the
Umbrella Organisations
The organizations listed below have been accredited
by either ISQua or UKAS or both. These accredit
hospitals based on certain standards.

10. 1. The Joint Commission (TJC)
The Joint Commission (earlier “The Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations”) was set up in 1951 in the United
States. The organisation sets models for, assesses,
and certifies about 19,000 health care associations
in the US.

11. Joint Commission International (JCI)
JCI extends The Joint Commission’s goal worldwide by helping global
health care associations to enhance the quality and security of patient
care in more than 100 nations. JCI was built up in 1994 as a division of
The Joint Commission. JCI accreditation is one of the most popular and
sought after accreditation by hospitals providing medical tourism
across the world.

12. 2. National Accreditation Board for Hospitals &
Healthcare Providers (NABH)
NABH is the shorthand for National Accreditation Board for Hospitals
& Healthcare Providers. It is a constituent leading body of Quality
Council of India, set up to build up and work accreditation program for
health care associations. NABH was set up in the year 2006.
Associations like the Quality Council of India (QCI) and its National
Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare suppliers have
outlined a comprehensive medicinal services standard for hospitals and
healthcare providers. This standard comprises 600 or more target
components for the hospitals to achieve to get the NABH accreditation.
These measures are split up between patient focused standards and
organization focused standards.

13. 3. Japan Council for Quality Health
Care (JCQHC)
JCQHC, an initiative of Japan, was built up in July,
1995 to support the voluntary quality improvement
efforts of the hospitals across the nation and also
aims to improve health care. It evaluates the
working of the hospital and then certifies it based
on universally established standards. About 30% of
all the hospitals in Japan have been accredited by
JCQHC.

14. 4. Australian Council on Healthcare Standards
International (ACHSI)
The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards
International (ACHSI), set up in 1974, is considered the
main health care accreditation body in Australia. It
provides accreditation to health care organizations
across the globe and member organizations have to be
reviewed every four years. The standards and programs
are based on the internationally accepted standards of
ACHS and have been accredited by the ISQua.

15. 5. Accreditation Canada International (ACI)
Accreditation Canada is a not-for-profit association that has
been accrediting medicinal and social services associations
in Canada and around the globe for over 55 years. Its far-
reaching accreditation projects lead to quality improvement
through standard principles and a thorough survey. Through
Accreditation Canada International (ACI), Accreditation
Canada is bringing in certain projects and services to
enhance the nature of health care administrations and
patient security globally.

16. 6. CHKS International Accreditation Standards
CHKS is the shorthand for Comparative Health Knowledge System. It
has been accredited by both the UKAS as well as the ISQua.
CHKS is a major supplier of healthcare insight and quality improvement
schemes in the UK. Since 1989 it has been creating hospital standards
and performance handling solutions for healthcare associations in
more than 20 nations and has worked with more than 400 customers
across the world. The CHKS Accreditation Council and Awards Panel
plays a key role in guaranteeing the greatest level of quality and
absence of bias in the accreditation process.

17. The six organizations mentioned above are amongst
the most popular accreditation programs globally.
Now, we cover an organization called ISO, that is
often considered a healthcare accreditation by some
patients, but is instead an organization that
promotes quality industrial and commercial
standards in general.

18. International Organization for Standardization
(ISO)
ISO is a global standard – setting body made out of delegates from
different national standard associations.
It was established on 23 February 1947 and is headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2013, it works in 164 nations. It is not a
healthcare accreditation scheme. ISO is a voluntary organization whose
individuals are perceived authorities on models and standards, every
one representing one nation. ISO International Standards for hospitals
guarantees that the services provided by the hospitals are safe and of
good quality. For business, they are key devices that decrease costs by
minimizing waste and slips, and expanding efficiency.

19. Accreditation programs should be supported as a
means to better the condition of healthcare
services. Also, these programs make the work of
finding good quality hospitals and
reputed accreditation quite easy for the medical
tourist. We hope this list helps you in your quest.