National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Health care Providers (NABH) is a matter of great importance for the hospitals. Even more important is to understand the process of getting the NABH accreditation and its benefits.
What are Benefits of NABH
The benefits of NABH include the following-
1-Continuation of existing TPA because due to IRDA Circular NABH Entry-level mandatory for a hospital providing TPA Facilities.
2-NABH certification will help in new empanelment of TPA due to certified information on facilities, infrastructure, and quality of care.
3-Cash patient will increase due to an increase in community confidence,
4-CGHS Empanelment and 10% extra than Non-NABH.
5-ECHS Empanelment and 10% extra than Non-NABH.
What is NABH?
NABH is a constituent board of Quality Council of India , under the guidance of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, set up to establish and operate accreditation program for healthcare organizations. It was established in 2006, it is the principal accreditation for hospitals in India.
NABH has designed a detailed healthcare standard for hospitals and healthcare providers. To comply with NABH standards, the hospital has to adopt a process-driven approach in all aspects of hospital activities, from registration, admission, pre-surgery, peri-surgery, and post-surgery protocols, discharge from the hospital to follow up with the hospital after discharge. NABH aims at streamlining the complete operations of a hospital.
NABH is equivalent to JCI and other International standards and the National Committee for Quality Assurance in the United States of America. Its standards have been accredited by ISQUA the apex body accrediting the accreditations, so NABH accreditation is equivalent to the world’s most leading hospital accreditation.
NABH provides accreditation to a healthcare organization in a non-discriminatory manner. The hospitals which are accredited by NABH have international recognition which will boost up medical tourism.
Accreditation Process.
Accreditation is a public recognition of the achievement of accreditation standards by a healthcare organization, demonstrated through an independent external assessment of that organization’s level of performance to the standards. A hospital willing to get accreditation from NABH must implement NABH standards at all levels in its organization.
The hospital must implement NABH standards three months before application.
The assessment team will then check the implementation of NABH standards in the organization. The hospital shall be able to demonstrate to the NABH assessment team that all NABH standards applicable to hospitals are implemented otherwise they will raise Non-Conformity (NC).
Myths about NABH
The biggest myth about NABH is that it is a very lengthy procedure. Another myth is that it is a very costly procedure. The truth is that it is not very costly but it’s a revenue-generating process for the future. It is the need of the hour.
Some people also have a big misunderstanding that NABH accreditation requires drastic changes in infrastructure. The reality is that it just requires a systematic modification to a certain extent to improve patient and hospital safety, and quality of care.
Steps of NABH
The first step in NABH Entry level is Gap Analysis followed by preparation of infrastructure, manpower, equipment, and legal compliances, preparing apex, HIC & safety manuals, SOP, Formats, work instructions, preparing various committees and safety teams, training of all hospital staff members, mock drills, monitoring various managerial & clinical quality indicators, Filling form online and uploading all documents and evidence for desktop assessment. The assessor will check everything and indicate deficiency by NC. The hospital will close them, then the onsite assessment will be done, NC Closure will be done, review by NABH assessor & raising some deficiencies list, deficiency closure by hospital online, review by Accreditation Committee held monthly & raising some deficiencies. After that Committee recommends NABH Certification and then the approval of the NABH Chairman Certificate is issued for two years. After two years, one could go for the full Accreditation/ Renewal of Certification.
Who can go for NABH
NABH accreditation occurs in hospitals, Blood bank, Allopathic Clinics, Dental Centers, Medical Imaging System, AYUSH Hospitals, PHC/CHC & Eye Care Organizations. NABH Certification occurs in Hospitals, Emergency departments, and Medical Laboratory.
