BACKGROUND Practice accreditation is widely used to assess and improve quality of healthcare providers. Little is known about its effectiveness, particularly in primary care. In this study we examined the effect of accreditation on quality of care regarding diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS A comparative observational study with t...

Accreditation has been recommended as a mechanism for assuring the quality of private sector health services in low-income countries, especially where regulatory systems are weak. A survey was conducted in Mumbai, India, in 1997-98 to elicit the views of the principal stakeholders on the introduction of accreditation and what form it should take. There was a high level of support for the classi...

From the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio (Dr Burke); Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minn (Dr Benson); Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC (Dr Englander); Competency-Based Assessment, The American Board of Pediatrics, Chapel Hill, NC (Dr Carraccio); and Department of Pedi...

Establishment of hospital accreditation programs is increasingly growing across numerous developing nations. Such initiatives aim to improve quality of care. However, such establishments, mainly incentivized by successful and famous accreditation plans in developed countries, usually suffer from lack of necessary arrangements which, in turn, result in undesired consequences. Indeed, the first p...

OBJECTIVES To assess the costs of hospital accreditation in Australia. DESIGN Mixed methods design incorporating: stakeholder analysis; survey design and implementation; activity-based costs analysis; and expert panel review. SETTING Acute care hospitals accredited by the Australian Council for Health Care Standards. PARTICIPANTS Six acute public hospitals across four States. RESULTS Ac...

From the Office of Graduate Medical Education and Student Affairs, and Department of Pediatrics, Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY (Dr Guralnick); Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa (Dr Ludwig); and Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC (Dr Englander) The views expressed in this report are...

In 1994, the Hospital Library Service Program of the Central New York Library Resources Council conducted a study to evaluate the usefulness, impacts, and potential services of eleven hospital libraries in a four-county area in New York State; determine the degree to which the libraries comply with Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standard IM.9.2; and provid...

Joint Commission–accredited ambulatory care organizations now have the option of expanding their accreditation to include the Primary Care Medical Home designation beginning July 1, 2011. The Joint Commission’s Board of Commissioners recently approved the Primary Care Medical Home option, which will help ambulatory care organizations improve care coordination, increase patient satisfaction, and...

The October and November 2004 HHN Accreditation Strategies columns addressed the new Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (Joint Commission) home care and hospice survey process describing in detail components of each survey activity. This column builds on the foundation laid in the two columns and focuses on survey process nuances for complex organizations, specificall...