title: The Accreditation Canada program: a complementary tool to promote accountability in Canadian healthcare.
abstract: Across Canada and internationally, the public and governments at all levels have increasing expectations for quality of care, value for healthcare dollars and accountability. Within this reality, there is increasing recognition of the value of accreditation as a barometer of quality and as a tool to assess and improve accountability and efficiency in healthcare delivery. In this commentary, we show how three key attributes of the Accreditation Canada Qmentum accreditation program--measurement, scalability and currency - promote accountability in healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Manager, Policy and Research, Accreditation Canada, Ottawa, ON.
authors.forename: Jonathan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: President and Chief Executive Officer, Accreditation Canada, Ottawa, ON.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nicklin
authors.affiliation: Vice President, Innovation and Development, Accreditation Canada, Ottawa, ON.
authors.forename: Bernadette
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation / Q000592:standards; D002170:Canada; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006303:Health Services, Indigenous / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012941:Social Responsibility