The role of accreditation in an era of market-driven accountability.
Accreditation has been widely used to promote accountability in healthcare. However, with the rise of both purchaser and consumer demand for broader and more detailed information on performance beyond licensure and professional self-regulation, especially at the provider level, the role of accreditation is less clear. We hypothesize that for accreditation to be a critical part of a market-driven, consumer-focused healthcare system, accrediting bodies must enlarge their scope of assessment with an emphasis on clinical performance of providers, revise and expand their level of reporting and transparency of assessment, and broaden the base of their governance. A new approach to accreditation could enhance accountability by (1) building on an existing framework and data-collection structure that are proven elements of quality assurance in multiple healthcare sectors; (2) expanding existing involvement of both public and private entities in the process; (3) building on existing linkages to professional and regulatory bodies; (4) providing greater flexibility, compared with regulation, in responding to change; and (5) having a defined source of funding. By these means, accrediting bodies will both improve accountability and successfully drive quality improvement.
Pawlson
L Gregory
LG
National Committee for Quality Assurance, 2000 L Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036, USA. pawlson@ncqa.org
Torda
Phyllis
P
Roski
Joachim
J
O'Kane
Margaret E
ME
D000068:Accreditation; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012941:Social Responsibility; D014481:United States