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May 23, 2008 by Atul.
With increasing demand for “medical tourism” services, and with projected growth, why should any hospital anywhere go through the trouble and expense of getting any international accreditation?
Here are some thoughts, along with usual disclaimers ( we don’t work for or represent any accredition bodies or services in any way; we do believe that the process is healthy for hospitals and helps them to improve).
1. Provides assurance: Americans, generally speaking, look for some seal of approval. This goes back to the “Good Housekeeping” and “UL” logos. More recently, companies with “ISO-certified” won many accolades. Especially, when countries like India and Thailand did not register in the minds of many until recently, some indication of international compliance communicates assurance and predictability.
2. Provides credibility:In addition, accrediting bodies are generally independent. JCI (Joint Commission International) is seperate and claims full autonomy from JCAHO, which audits and reports on US hospitals. If your factory’s Sarbanes-Oxley certification is done by your cousin rather than an independent auditor like PWC, it would be somewhat unsettling. Since the accrediting agencies have pedigrees and audit-ready history, this allows other business stakeholders to get engaged.
3. Provides spillover advantages: Some of the reforms made for the accredition win can have unforeseen advantages; Hospitals may need make some changes for the hospital sections targeted for medical tourists. Many of these are not limiting their facilities exclusively for the international patients and will also have other sections or facilities for treating domestic patients (for a lot less fee). Just as General Motors (and others), when asked to comply with California’s emission standards, chose over time to make all cars everywhere compliant, in the same way, some of the improvements made by the international hospitals will benefit the home patients.
4. Provides a platform for further trust-building:Medical Tourism is based on the premise that there are good doctors everywhere and that patients, even those paying in $$$$, have more or less the same human anatomy and physiology. In order to coordiante the post-treatment home return, there are billing and coding considerations. Having an internationally accredited facility helps the patient’s home caregiver team a headstart towards ensuring continuity of care.
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