JCI Accreditation: The Gold Standard for Medical Tourism and Patient Safety

The quality of care is a priority for many people around the world. But how can they trust medical providers and doctors? Do photos of the hospital and their information on website suffice? Is there any easy way to know about the quality of care in a medical center?

When it comes to trust in medical tourism, accreditation is one of the keywords. Accreditation is a valuable criterion that ensures the quality of a medical center. When the health of people is the matter, it is essential to have a reliable and trustworthy medical provider.

In this essay, we will talk about accreditation in more detail. Generally, accreditation can be defined as a government or non-government agency that grants certification to medical providers that meet certain standards. It is a voluntary process, and many hospitals around the world are willing to achieve this in order to gain the trust of their customers.

Accreditation in medical tourism

Accreditation in the medical tourism industry aims to improve patient care processes and outcomes. Actually, the main goal is to enhance patient safety and strengthen the confidence of patients, professionals, and payers in the organization. It also helps to improve the management of health services, and as the path is clarified, it enhances staff recruitment, retention, and satisfaction. Additionally, it provides education on better/best practices.

 

What are some of JCI standards?

The JCI has established several standards that healthcare organizations must meet in order to achieve accreditation. These standards include:

– A comprehensive system framework

– Addressing all important managerial and clinical functions of the healthcare organization

– Focusing on patients within the context of their families

– A balance of structure, process, and outcomes standards

– Setting optimal, achievable expectations

– Setting measurable expectations

 

JCI emphasizes that standards are continually a “work in progress”. actually, the heart of any accreditation program is the standards upon which all else is based – the evaluation methodology, decision process, evaluator training, and other operational elements thus, a standard must be “good”, not just on the day the standard is written, but on a continuing basis.

 

Are the JCI Standards designed to address key issues that are relevant to medical travel?

1. Communication Issues

• The organization seeks to reduce physical, language, cultural, and other barriers to access and delivery of services.
• The patient and family are taught in a format and language they understand

2. Rights as Patients

• Care is considerate and respectful of the patient’s values and beliefs.
• Care is respectful of the patient’s need for privacy.
• Patient information is confidential.
• Patient informed consent is obtained

3. Continuity of Care

• Continuity and coordination are evident throughout all phases of patient care.
• Referrals outside the organization are to specific individuals and agencies in the patient’s home community.
• A copy of the discharge summary is provided to the practitioner responsible for the patient’s continuing or follow-up care

 

4. Truth in admission policies

• Patients are admitted for care only if the organization can provide the necessary services and settings for care.
• At admission patients and families are provided information on the proposed care, expected results of care, and expected costs.
• The organization has established and implemented a framework for ethical management

 

5. Professional Competence

• The organization has an effective process to authorize all medical staff members to admit and treat patients and provide other clinical services consistent with their qualifications.
• The credentials of medical staff members are reevaluated at least every three years to determine their qualifications to continue to provide patient care services in the organization

6. Evidence of quality

-The organization monitors its clinical and managerial structures, processes, and outcomes including:

• Laboratory and radiation safety and quality
• Surgical procedures
• Use of antibiotics and other medications
• Use of blood and blood products’
• Infections
• And 13 other areas including patient safety

7. Complaints

• The organization informs patients and families about its process to receive and act on complaints, conflicts, and differences of opinion about patient care

 

 

What are International Patient Safety Goals and Tools?

International patient safety Represents proactive strategies to reduce risk of medical error and reflect good practices proposed by leading patient safety experts. It also incorporates these new tools into our accreditation requirements which is a significant step. Organizations taking responsibility for using the IPSG to foster an atmosphere of continuous improvement is even more important

 

What are the JCI International Patient Safety Goals?

1. Identify patients correctly
2. Improve effective communication
3. Improve the safety of high-alert medications
4. Ensure right-site, right-patient, right-procedure surgery
5. Reduce the risk of health care-associated infections
6. Reduce the risk of patient harm from falls

 

 What are JCI’s Measurement Strategy?

– Accreditation is continuous

– Accreditation status publicly disclosed

– Complements existing standards requirements

– International comparisons

– Meets needs of multiple stakeholders

– Develop and identify measures that address clinical and managerial dimensions

– Need for and rigor of data validation

– Measurement system supported by IT platform

– JCI currently has 20 performance measurement Requirements

 

This is a summary of the main issues addressed by JCI accreditation that are relevant to the medical tourism industry. Nowadays, JCI is one of the most trusted accreditation bodies, and many hospitals around the world seek to attain its accreditation.