Why Hospital Accreditation Does Not Equal Quality Patient Care

What is hospital accreditation and how does it work?

Hospital accreditation is a designation awarded to a healthcare institution after an on-site survey to confirm that the institution has met certain standards. The process is controlled by private entities, not overseen by the government as most people assume. The Joint Commission is the largest accreditation organization in the United States, accrediting about 88% of the institutions seeking that designation, according to the Heartland Health Research Institute. There are other accreditation organizations as well, some private and some state-funded.

Beyond the financial costs, accreditation costs institutions significant clinician time. Preparation for inspection is no small feat inside a healthcare institution, requiring compilation of departmental data and review of that data for presentation to inspectors. And while accreditation may only happen every three years, state and federal regulations, which vary by department and hospital, also require significant time and effort to meet. In fact, in the Regulatory Overload report published by the American Hospital Association, researchers found that an average hospital dedicates 59 full time employees to the administrative work required to comply with the over 600 various regulatory requirements that allow hospitals to keep their doors open. One quarter of those are clinical staff.

Is being compliant the same as offering high-quality patient care?

In an understaffed and overburdened hospital environment, there is a point at which complying with regulations does not equate to excellent patient care, and might even detract from it because of the excessive time it requires from staff. The other thing to consider is that “compliance” simply means that institutions are keeping up with the bare minimums for safety standards.

Compliance does not equate to quality, and overworked, stressed-out healthcare professionals don’t have the time or ability to go above and beyond for patients on a regular basis.

If accreditation and compliance don’t indicate healthcare quality, what does?

Shouldn’t healthcare quality be a given?

We’d all like to think so. But in order to ensure quality, hospitals need to assure they are going beyond the bare minimums, and when staffing is already an issue, this can be a tall order.

The great news is that there are solutions on the horizon, and there are plenty of motivated and dedicated healthcare professionals on a mission to create them. We believe that innovative technology is the best solution.

We’ve already seen how artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning have helped create less invasive surgical options, cut down surgical time, and improved patient outcomes across various procedures. We believe these same technologies, applied to pre-patient care, will be the key to assuring that hospitals (and the devices and personnel within them) are performing at the highest possible levels, ensuring quality patient care.

The kinds of technologies we’re watching are those that automate routine tasks, standardizing methodologies and alerting staff to out-of-norm results in order to efficiently maintain and service devices and processes when needed.

At Enzee, we've created technology that provides time-saving  efficiencies for radiology and radiation oncology departments and helps administrators save time preparing for inspections.

Compliance and inspections are still important, but to ensure high-quality patient care, they have to be combined with technologies that make them reliable, efficient, and trackable, freeing up staff to do what they do best: care for patients.