Seminar

'Accreditation Has Been a Costly Exercise'

Across the globe, accreditation has been the most accepted methodology for assuring standardised quality of healthcare

Dr YP Bhatia

In an era of corporatisation of healthcare when quality has become the buzzword, two-day national workshop and conference on hospital accreditation conducted at PD Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai on 1st and 2nd of March, gave a fresh insight into the issue of accreditation for healthcare institutions. Part of the Hospital's Healthcare Management Series, the 80-plus delegates who participated in the conference included professionals from across the healthcare industry. "With this and more of such conferences in the future, we would like to track the ever growing knowledge needs of the healthcare management professionals who otherwise don't get much updates on such issues," said Joy Chakraborty, Deputy Director, Administration, PD Hinduja Hospital, while talking about the motive behind the conference.

The first day of the event was graced by luminaries like Dr YP Bhatia Chairman, Healthcare Committee, National Board for Quality Promotion, QCI; Dr Vivek Desai, Managing Director, Hosmac India; Dr Paul Chang, Managing Director, Joint Commission International (JCI) Asia Pacific and many more. Day One saw the participants being updated on the accreditation process and standards specified by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), responsible for developing the standards under the auspices of QCI. Dr Paul Chang, Managing Director, JCI presented an international perspective on the subject and shared his suggestions on enhancing the quality and safety in hospitals. Said Dr Bhatia, "Across the globe, accreditation has been the most accepted methodology for assuring standardised quality of healthcare. In India, accreditation is a recent phenomenon. Though there are positive movements, there is still a long way to go in the process of learning, understanding and adapting to the new standards."

Day Two saw experts and professionals from the healthcare industry, biomedical equipment industry, health insurance sector and IT industry, share their experiences and thoughts on accreditation. Most of the speakers have been directly or indirectly associated with the process of accreditation of their respective institutions. Dr Vivek Desai, MD, Hosmac India shared his views on accreditation and hospital infrastructure planning with the audience. In his talk, Dr Desai touched upon some important aspects of safety, disaster protection, engineering systems and design standardisation requirements of hospitals in terms of accreditations. "Enhanced patients expectation, emphasis on ambulatory/daycare, changing function of hospitals, advancement in medical sciences, continuous technological advancement and improved medical outcomes emphasises on standardisation i.e accreditation, gradation, branding and uniformity in hospitals today," said Dr Desai. He further said that to deal with the strategic issues of design for flexibility and expandability, anticipating change in demand, patient safety, removing accessibility barriers, energy conservation, healing architecture, aesthetics and visualisation of future trends, hospitals should come up with strategies essential to cope up with different healthcare needs, cultures and budgetary requirements. Dr Shakti Gupta, Head, Hospital Administration Programme & Medical Superintendent, AIIMS discussed challenges and issues governing accreditation of public sector hospitals and medical institutions. "The public sector must embark on the journey of quality and standardisation in all earnestness and eagerness for both clinical and non-clinical services as well as education of all stake holders," said Dr Gupta. He recommended the formation of a national body like QCI which will work as advisory to the minister, at a policy level, with clear lines of accountability.

Said Pramod Lele, CEO, Hinduja Hospital, "Until recently, accreditation has been a costly exercise, beyond the reach of many hospitals. Now, that we have a national body in India to accredit the hospital, I am sure that many healthcare organisations would come forward and seek accreditation". The other speakers included Dr SMK Rao, Member-Technical Committee, NABH; Dr Tester Ashavaid, HOD - Lab Medicine, Hinduja Hospital; Dr Tilak Suvarna, Director, Asian Heart Institute & MRC; Dr K Prabhakar, Sr VP - HR, Apollo Hospitals; Dr Llyod Nazareth, COO, Wockhardt Hospital; Shanti Mathur, Head, Healthcare Solution Delivery, IBM; Dr Praneet Kumar, COO & Director Quality Assurance, Fortis Healthcare; Krishnakumar and Kurshid Aalam, Commissioner, Healthcare Commission, UK. The two-day event concluded with a CEO round table discussion on hospital accreditation.

EH News Bureau