Accrediting Bodies and Healthcare - Essay Example

? Accrediting Bodies and Healthcare Accreditation is the process by which an agency notifies the public that an institution or a program meets the laid down standards of quality set forth by the said agency or institution. Accreditation of health care refers to the self-assessment and external peer evaluation process that is employed by healthcare organizations to accurately evaluate their level of performance in accordance with the set standards and to come up with methods to continuously improve. The role of accreditation is mainly to ensure the patients safety both during treatment and after exposure to medication (Greenwald, 2010). In the US there are sophisticated accreditation bodies that have emerged to evaluate hospitals and other medical services that are offered in the community. The bodies have come up to deal with a specific section of the health industry for example laboratories, hospitals, sexual health etc. The Joint Commission on accreditation of healthcare is one such organization that is mandated to improve the safety and the quality of care that is given to the public. They offer hospital accreditation services and accreditation of programs that include behavioral healthcare and long term care. Healthcare organizations in the United States are provided by independent legal entities. They are owned and run by the private sector. On the other hand health insurance is provided to the public by the government. The healthcare spending and provision is largely financed by programs that include the following: Medicare, children’s health insurance program, Tricare among others. It is documented that a lot of money is spent in the US on health care than in any other nation in the world. This is because the cost of medical care is high and therefore the public expenditure on healthcare per year is very high (National Center for Biotechnology Information, n.d). As we have seen above the health care organizations are mostly owned by the private players though the federal government, counties, states and city governments also own a number of medical facilities. In the US there is no nationwide system of medical facilities owned by the government which are open to the general public but there exists government owned local medical hospitals that are used by the general public (Greenwald, 2010). A number of issues arise in healthcare organizations and accreditation bodies concerning financing. These are issues to do with public and private funding, health insurance, quality improvement among others. These factors affect the US health care policy in different ways. Issues to do with spending has been a big problem in the healthcare industry for a long time and these dictate the quality of service one gets whether a healthcare organization is accredited or not. There are other issues that are directly related to accreditation bodies and healthcare organizations that affect how the two operate (Uselton, Kienle, & Murdaugh, 2010). The first issue is to do with reimbursement. It is mandatory that all healthcare providers in the various categories are accredited by the Joint Commission on accreditation of health care before they can receive any reimbursement of the money they spend on treating patients. All public hospitals are required to be accredited so that they can be fully reimbursed by the government. This puts pressure on hospitals as they are supposed to go through a process of evaluation before they can be said fit for use by patients. Some healthcare facilities thus end up not going through the process and all the patients that are admitted there have to part with a certain amount of money in order to get treated which is not a good idea for many. The healthcare policy is strict on such matters of accreditation and therefore no one will get reimbursed for the cost of treatment in health care facilities that have not been accredited (The Joint Commission, 2011). Al though there are many benefits of this system, but the disadvantages outweighs the advantages. The disadvantages include the problem of the less fortunate people accessing medical treatment. These people mainly rely on the government to treat them and therefore they expect the tax they pay each and every day to be used in offering medical attention to them. The policy should be such that all public and private hospitals can offer treatment to people whether or not they are accredited and at the end they should get reimbursed so that they can continue offering the services to other people. The advantage of this method is that only the healthcare organizations that have complied with the said standards can receive money spent on patients. This eliminates the problem of dealing with healthcare facilities that are not fit to be used by patients (The Joint Commission, 2011). The second issue is to do with medical supplies. It is a requirement that before any healthcare organization or facility can supply or bid to supply a hospital with medical equipment and drugs it must be accredited. Hospitals require so many supplies ranging from beds, cleaning equipment, surgical equipment, drugs, and rehabilitation equipment among others. The Joint commission on the accreditation of hospitals requires that before any supplies are made to a public hospital there must be a document which certifies that the said supplier is accredited by the commission (Uselton, Kienle, & Murdaugh, 2010). This is a good move because it ensures that only equipment from trusted sources can be used to treat patients. These medical supplies have been evaluated and proven to be of high quality and suitable to be used on the said patients. On the other hand this is difficult for such supplies because they may have quality supplies but they have not been accredited because of the cost of the evaluation program and the size of the organization. This may bring in problems to do with bribing in order to win tenders for these supplies, which is unethical. The health care policies support this as people are able to receive first class treatment using appropriate drugs and equipment that would make them get well faster and even improve their lives (Greenwald, 2010). The third and last issue is to do with the cost of accreditation. The joint commission on the accreditation of healthcare charges an average fee of forty six thousand US dollars to survey a single hospital or healthcare facility. This is expensive for most heath care organizations and therefore they end up not being accredited. Although the entire process is important most health care organizations would rather not do it because of a number of factors some which are mostly internal. The healthcare policy in the United States requires that all health care facilities be accredited so as to offer quality services to their patients. This is not the best way to go as the cost of accreditation is passed down to the patients in the end. Accreditation is a continuous process and therefore each time a healthcare facility is evaluated it passes the cost down to the patients. It is good because the patients receive he best treatment from certified medical institutions (Uselton, Kienle, & Murdaugh, 2010). The above three issues affect the way accrediting bodies and the healthcare organizations work. They also affect the health care policy and therefore necessitating healthcare reform that would look into such issues and see to it that they are regulated so as to provide the best medical care to patients. References Greenwald, H. P. (2010). Health Care in the United States: Organization, Management, and Policy. Sans Francisco. USA: John Wiley and Sons. National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Special Fiscal and Administrative Issues. Retrieved 9 1, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK25930/ The Joint Commission. (2011). What is Accreditation . Retrieved 9 1, 2011, from http://www.jointcommission.org/accreditation/accreditation_main.aspx Uselton, J. P., Kienle, P. C., & Murdaugh, L. B. (2010). Assuring Continuous Compliance with Joint Commission Standards: A Pharmacy Guide (8 ed.). Bethesda. USA: American society of Health system Pharmacists, inc. Read More