Medical Regulatory Agency - Term Paper Example

 It has been difficult for people working in health care centers to realise the influences that the government’s regulations have on their daily professional duties. Most of the health care services are usually regulated by the federal and state laws as well as the environmental protection agencies, the Food and Drug administration and the other regulatory body is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). JCAHO has been known for this reason too and now for many years. The Joint Commission was formerly known as Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). This organization is a non profit making one that aims at subscribing healthcare centers for a fee. According to Roberts Coale and Redman (939) these accreditation programmes are operated in over 15 thousands hospitals situated in U.S. The primary goal of the Commission is to improve the quality of care offered by health centers. It also ensures that safety is observed in all operating hospitals. The commission was first introduced in 1951 where it was given authority to inspect the hospitals to ensure that they have attained the requirements needed by Medicare. Fisher (2010) shows the decision of changing the name was to make it easy for everyone and to show that the organisation was an association guided by its own rules and regulations. They also changed their mission to one that showed that they assist health centers to help their patients. The commission being authorised by state has to ensure that they have all the requirements needed by law as they also have to ensure that Medicaid approves their application. There are several roles that the Joint commission spread to health services. These include; one involves ensuring that the health services maintain safety kits and of high quality. This is where the organization give standards that should be maintained and provide other services for instance survey and consultations. The commission has no right of punishing those health centers that do not meet the stipulated standards but they work by making the centers lose their accreditation thus losing benefits form the financially supporting programs such as Medicare or Medicaid. Saufl (60-51) describes that the commission also involves itself by providing hospital facilities funded by Accreditation Council for Ambulatory Health Care (ACAHC). Medicaid funded by the federal state was also established to help poor people who are qualified in offering health care. The other role that the commission is known to offer to the health care serviced is to provide patients with conducive environment that will improve their health status rather than diminishing this method is ensured where the commission sets policies and procedures to be followed by all hospitals. The nurses working in the health centers are also trained so as to offer the best care to clients. PTAC is an accreditation program that performs several roles in relation to JCAHO for instance it offers guidelines that the commission is to use as well as advice on how to conduct surveys. PTAC also facilitates development programs concerning the commission and how to publicize them for the public to understand their importance. This is by formulating measures that should be put into action and also ensuring that every participant gets the right information on development. The accreditation program also appoints a representative to hold meeting and also to participate in the hearing panels. The commission’s operates by carrying out accreditation surveys after every three years. After the survey, the organisation then meets with the hospital management to discuss on the best decisions to undertake and if the standards were as the commission had proposed. If the hospital meets all the standards, then it is offered accreditation and can then be in a position of obtaining support from support programs. Health care journalist have been criticising the commission that accreditation is given to even the health centers which meeting certain standards is their condition of operation thus denying the rest. As the results of accreditations are not announced to the public it has therefore been difficult to differentiate the level of accreditation given to each hospital. The other problem associated with the association is that ones a healthcare centres loose accreditation, the previous records are erased thus the hospital seems like it has never attained any at all. This kind of policy does not encourage hospital development at all (Frederick 2002). In order for a survey to effective, the commission needs to be familiar with the hospital’s records, their current situation, the guiding policies and the procedures followed in conducting hospital responsibilities. Before carrying out a survey, the hospital has to comply with the commission’s standards for a minimum of five months. This process has to be maintained for the time that the hospital will be accredited which is almost three years. The surveyors employed are to have worked in the health center and should be capable of developing operations to enable the health service meet their goals. The goals meant to achieve patients’ safety have to be analysed annually. This enables the hospitals to gain a good reputation in case the standards are of high quality. If the health center fails to meet these goals, then the issue is analysed by giving solutions on how to solve the matter. The Commission also has a responsibility of collecting government’s revenue from the health care services. McDonald and Weiner (9-5) shows that a study carried out in 2008 reflected that more than 160 million dollars had been collected as returns. This money included paid in fees that is charged in registration of health centers. The main efforts made involve promoting development programs meant to improve the standards of care offered by hospitals. It also ensures that the best and safety facilities are utilised and that information can easily be transferred to ensure efficiency at work. The structure of the Commission operates in form of a union where there members come together to discuss the issues arising from patients. It is for this reason that the commission has formed a National Patients Safety Goals (NPSGs) that aims at ensuring that the stipulated goals are achieved. These goals include; facilities of high quality, better methods of offering care to the patients, maintaining conducive environment and finally is to maintain the accreditation standards. The introduced program is also used in avoiding the spread of diseases such as those that affect the bloodstream and those that need surgical care (Malangoni 1997, 57). They train and ensure that the physicians that operate on patients are professionals. This helps to reduce inaccuracy while carrying out these procedures thus saving the lives of many patients. The NPSGs also gave other guidance to solving patients’ problems. The se included that the nurses should first identify the patient in personality and the problem they were suffering from. This would help in offering the right treatment to them. They should also know the best medicine to administer, prevent infections due to sharing of facilities and finally to check the patients’ progress. According to Gaul (1) the Association went to the global environment in 1997 where it changed the name to Joint Commission International (JCI). The main aim of being involved as an international organisation was to spread the benefits of consultation as well as introducing training programs so as to ensure that the social workers are professionally trained when offering health care services to patients. Once the association carries out the accreditation process, the results are analysed but are not publicized. The analysis is made as members in the organisation come up with the right decisions on how to improve the hospital surveyed. The hospital management is never informed on the exact time of carrying out the survey and this has resulted to many complains in U.S (The Joint Commission 2004). Authorization procedures are updated annually and the data is analysed then publicized on the websites for other stakeholders for example patients, investors or institutions to be informed. The organisation has also introduced the National Patients Safety Goals (NPSGs) that has significantly helped in reforming many institutions. This program has also helped in the provision of drugs to hospitals and offering preventive measures in various kinds of infections. There are other kinds of agency introduced in U.S that also performs the same duties as JCI for instance the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA). Others that are somehow differ in roles include; American Osteopathic Association (AOA), Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) etc. Momin (19-4) describes that the maximum cost of fee to be given in accreditation should be known to all surveyors as this avoids conflict. Other types of costs include consultancy costs and day to day expenses. Conclusion The process of accreditation has brought about significant changes in health care services operations. This has therefore saved patients lives and provided quality care especially where the life of patients is in danger. The joint commission as a non profit and voluntary organisation, it has effectively performed its role of regulating health services through the provision of standards to be maintained, training and consultation. It also conducts surveys on health centers operation of these services so as to determine where the problems arise. Works cited Fisher, Ian. Public Advocate says Hospital Accreditation system is faulty. The New York Times. 2010. Gaul, Gilbert. Accreditors Blamed for Overlooking Problems. The Washington Post. 2007. 1. Momin, Siddiqui. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University Hospital, Cyto Journal. Atlanta, USA. 2007. 4-19 The Joint Commission. Lessons Learned: Wrong Site Surgery Sentinel Event Alert. Retrieved 12 August 2004. . Read More