Requirement under Pre Accreditation Entry Level Certification Standards is one fourth the requirement of Full Accreditation Standards
Established in 2006, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) is a constituent board of The Quality Council of India (QCI). QCI further works under the guidance of Ministry of Commerce. NABH is primarily responsible to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organisations. The first edition of NABH standards were released in 2006 and the standards are revised every 3 years. Presently, the 4th edition of NABH standards (released during 2015) is in use and going by the history, we may possibly see the release of the 5th edition sometime this year.
Apart from accreditation of healthcare organisations, NABH is entrusted with quality promotion initiatives, awareness activities, education and training for quality and patient safety and recognition of healthcare quality courses.
A 26-member board helms NABH – The Chairman, CEO, Indian Medical Association, Indian Nursing Council, Ministry of AYUSH, Drug Controller General of India along with twenty other members.
With patient safety and stringent quality as the foundation, NABH and QCI jointly designed the exhaustive Accreditation Standards in its 4th edition that has 102 Standards and 636 stringent Objective Elements. Hospitals striving to obtain the accreditation must have a process driven approach towards all aspects of hospital activities and hospital governance. The standards ensure that clinical aspects in a hospital starting from registration, admission, pre-surgery, peri-surgery and post-surgery protocols, discharge from the hospitals and the follow-up thereof are streamlined and the governing policies and protocols are clear and transparent.
A large numbers of hospitals, especially the smaller ones with limited resources and bandwidth have faced challenges in implementation of all the Accreditation Standards.
Keeping this in view, NABH developed Pre-Accreditation Entry Level Certification standards after consultation with various stakeholders across the country. As the name suggests, these standards are a stepping stone for hospitals that wish to enter the quality certification journey. Requirement under Pre Accreditation Entry Level Standards is almost one fourth of the full Accreditation Standards. These standards are provided for SHCOs with up to 50 beds (Day Care Centres with up to 50 beds included) and healthcare organisations with over 50 beds.
Once a hospital achieves the pre accreditation entry level certification, it can methodically prepare to move to the Progressive Level before culminating the quality journey with the final stage of Full Accreditation status. Apart from hospitals and SHCOs, bodies like Blood Banks, Allopathic Clinics, AYUSH Hospitals, Wellness Centres, Eye Care Organisations, amongst others are also governed by related Accreditation Standards. Similarly, there are separate Certification Standards that apply to Nursing Services and Medical Laboratories.
On July 12, 2016, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) introduced a clause for hospitals. As per the clause, all the hospitals offering cashless facility are required to meet with NABH’s pre accreditation entry level certification standards within a span of 2 years to get empanelled with IRDAI.
Presently, there are approximately 33,000 hospitals that are empanelled with IRDAI. Considering the timeline that was prescribed to meet the clause, July 2018 will mark completion of the time-span of 2 years from the date of this notification. Additionally, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and many State governments are also considering making entry-level standards mandatory for empanelment.
Reference: NABH Website
Hospitals that aim to commence with the process of attaining pre accreditation entry level certification, read our post on A guide to preparing for NABH Pre Accreditation Entry Level Certification Standards