Seminar on role of grading

EHM News Bureau - New Delhi

ICRA and Associated Chambers Of Commerce and Industry Of India (ASSOCHAM) are jointly organising a seminar on External Assessment of Healthcare Quality: Role of Gradings. The seminar will highlight the appropriateness of the concept of Grading as an external quality assessment mechanism, besides discussing the Grading Methodology and the benefits of such gradings for participants in the healthcare sector.

This seminar will be held in the four metros in the country- New Delhi (February 04, 2003), Mumbai (February 05, 2003), Chennai (February 07, 2003) and Kolkata (February 08, 2003).

ICRA and the Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation India Limited (HSCC) have jointly developed the methodology of the grading services offered by ICRA.

Healthcare sector is evolving. For users of healthcare service (patients), the choice is increasing. For healthcare entities, there is need to differentiate and establish a favourable price-value equation. For regulators, the provision and quality of healthcare offered must be monitored. For insurers, healthcare entities with which they can associate themselves have to be identified. For lenders, the viability of healthcare entities must be ascertained.

All these needs call for a system that can provide a credible, objective and unbiased opinion on the quality of care that healthcare entities are providing. Grading evaluates the capability to deliver quality of care from the user’s (patient’s) perspective and are designed to evaluate the two most important dimensions of care, viz. technical and interpersonal. A healthcare institution with a higher Grading would have a relatively better care, infrastructure and processes than those graded lower. However, the Grading is not an opinion on the correctness of diagnosis and the probability of outcome of any therapy or surgery.

The ICRA Healthcare Grading methodology focuses on factors that directly affect the quality of care. The evaluation of these core factors is undertaken using a variety of methods. The focus of evaluation is on quantitative adequacy (number), technical adequacy (type) and availability (distribution) of the core resources. Additionally, the methodology incorporates the feedback of facility users to qualify the interpersonal aspects of care, evaluates the clinical processes of decision-making vis-a-vis the established protocols, and examines the financial position of the healthcare institution for stability and flexibility.