Independent or Governmental Accreditation of Hospitals?

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Table of Contents

Identification of the specific standard, guideline, or criteria
The exact standard, guideline, or criteria details
Facts and data supporting the standard, guideline, or criteria
Analysis of collected data
Findings and opinions regarding the standard, guideline, or criteria
References

Identification of the specific standard, guideline, or criteria

The process of hospital accreditation is rather controversial, due to its effects and involved costs, but still a necessary element of the health care system in the United States (Morrissey, 2004, p. 8). Accordingly, the huge importance of hospital accreditation makes scholars and specialists argue about the best way to control and supervise this process.

The two alternatives are the independent and the government agencies entitled with the accreditation powers (Federal and Industry Regulations, 2010; IMTJ, 2010). The analysis of the scholarly findings in the area of health care advocates the independent accreditation of hospitals.

The exact standard, guideline, or criteria details

Thus, the exact standard selected for the analysis in the current paper is the independence of the major health care accreditation facility in the United States, i. e. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The very standard can be formulated follows: “An independent, not-for-profit organization, JCAHO is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care” (Federal and Industry Regulations, 2010).

Thus, being an independent non-profit organization (the fact eliminates any financial interest and associated bias for this organization in its judgments), JCAHO works together with the governmental health care agencies and the Congress to provide the objective accreditation standards.

Facts and data supporting the standard, guideline, or criteria

The data that support the necessity of the independence standard for a health care accreditation organization can be generally divided into two major categories. The first one includes the critique of the possible governmental accreditation. These data focus on the potential increase of governmental regulation in health care and use of accreditation powers for achieving political goals (Federal and Industry Regulations, 2010).

The second category of data consists of arguments presented by Roth and Taleff (2002, p. 41), Morrissey (2004, p. 9), and Snyder (2005, p. 135) regarding the already controversial character of the accreditation procedures offered by JCAHO. These scholars argue that the usefulness of JCAHO accreditation is rather doubtful, and the governmental regulation of this process might consequently complicate the state of things further.

Analysis of collected data

In more detail, the major controversy that surrounds the independent or governmentally controlled hospital accreditation focuses on the use of the process for the actual improvement of hospitals’ service quality. The independent accreditation agency, JCAHO, provides services whose effect is doubted for the main goal, i. e. service quality growth.

Accordingly, if JCAHO becomes a governmental agency, or another body is designed under the supervision of the government, the possible bias associated with such accreditation might only worsen the state of things and undermine the remains of trust into the objectivity of accreditation as an assessment of hospitals’ performance.

Findings and opinions regarding the standard, guideline, or criteria

So, the findings of the above discussion reveal that the independent accreditation of hospitals is preferred to the governmental accreditation by scholars and specialists. There are several factors that condition this fact, including the potential for the better objectivity and effectiveness of independent accreditation of US hospitals. Given the currently observed controversy that surrounds the independent hospital accreditation, the transition to the government accreditation would only worsen the state of things and might undermine the basis of the very concept of accreditation.

References

Federal and Industry Regulations. (2010). Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Web.

IMTJ. (2010). USA: Increasing competition for hospital accreditation services. Retrieved May 14, 2010, from International Medical Travel Journal. Web.

Morrissey, J. (2004). New and improved. Modern Healthcare. Chicago, 34(23), 8, 2 pgs.

Roth, W., Taleff, P. (2002). Health care standards: The good, bad, and the ugly in our future. The Journal for Quality and Participation. Cincinnati, 25(2), 40, 5 pgs.

Snyder, B. (2005). A Case Study… Secrets to a Successful JCAHO Survey. Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology, 39(2), 135 – 6.

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