The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced its approval of DNV Healthcare Inc. to become the first new hospital accreditation organization in more than 30 years.
Today’s historic decision allows DNV to immediately begin deeming hospitals in compliance with the Medicare Conditions of Participation.
As part of the CMS approval process, DNV’s accreditation program, called NIAHOSM, has been successfully implemented in multiple hospitals across the country demonstrating to US health authorities its effectiveness as well as DNV’s readiness to deliver its program nationally.
“The entire market has reached a turning point,” says Yehuda Dror, president of DNV Healthcare Inc. “DNV’s NIAHOSM program represents a new accreditation option based on innovation and accountability. Now hospitals can choose to integrate proven quality systems into an annual accreditation process that is less complicated to administer. Based on its design and feedback from DNV’s currently accredited hospitals, we believe NIAHOSM will have a positive and measurable impact on patient safety, financial performance and the overall quality of healthcare services.”
NIAHOSM encourages innovation within individual hospitals while helping them take advantage of system-wide best practices. It is the first hospital accreditation program in the United States that integrates the internationally recognized ISO 9001 Quality Management System with the Medicare Conditions of Participation, making it the first and only hospital accreditation program that requires continual quality improvement.
NIAHOSM is the acronym for National Integrated Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations.
Atrium Medical Center, a 300-bed regional hospital in southwestern Ohio, was one of the first hospitals to deploy the new DNV NIAHOSM program.
“We wanted an accreditation program that could help us take our quality programs to the next level,” says Robyn Myers, Director of Quality and Accreditation for Atrium Medical Center. “DNV NIAHO looks at every area of the hospital, not just clinical services. It’s a much more comprehensive approach.”
Next year Atrium will complete a hospital-wide transition to electronic health records. That’s another reason they’re pleased with NIAHOSM.
“We’ve had prior experience with ISO 9001 and it makes a big difference. It creates consistency and structure throughout our entire organization,” says Ms. Myers. “ISO is actually helping us make the switch to electronic records. We have better control of our business processes and that allows us to adapt more quickly to changes in CMS quality measures.”
As part of its NIAHOSM program development, DNV has cultivated highly-motivated field surveyors throughout the country. Working in tight-knit teams comprised of clinicians, generalists and life safety specialists, DNV NIAHOSM surveyors will visit hospitals annually to ensure progress and help hospitals meet their quality goals.
Unique in the industry, all DNV surveyors have been cross-trained as ISO 9001 lead auditors.
“It’s not just their surveying skills, it’s their collaborative approach that makes the difference,” says Mr. Dror. “Accreditation surveys in the past have become somewhat combative. They don’t have to be. We believe accreditation should be treated like a true service, not a confrontation. We have shown that surveyors can be collaborative and still hold hospitals accountable. We are very confident that hospitals will find DNV accreditation teams to be a dramatic and welcomed change from what they’re used to.”
Date: 2008-09-25
