Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation Analysis

Ten percent of all US deaths are due to medical errors, and those deaths are the third highest cause of deaths in the US (Johns Hopkins, 2016). These are alarming facts, and this leads to the question; what is being done to stem the tide of this issue? Having a system in place to ensure hospitals and clinics are living up to a certain standard is the first step. This is a program called accreditation.
Accreditation
According to the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health care (AAAHC), accreditation is intended to help improve healthcare by taking an outsider look at practices and standards in an ambulatory environment. The AAAHC offers an impartial external view to assess an organization’s standards, and how well the organization
The organizations various services offered on the site to include accreditation for medical home on site certification, primary care settings, or office-based procedural settings (AAAHC, n.d.). There are multiple sources in assisting an HCO through the accreditation process, as well as guide books explaining what items are inspected when the AAAHC visits a site. One of the biggest items that HCOs should work on is keeping documentation in order. This documentation includes policy and procedure manuals, personnel files, patient records and verification of staff workers licenses and records. Often HCOs can be in compliance by being prepared ahead of time. Evaluation of the standards manuals from the AAHC is a must. The main idea is for an HCO to see the standards and then evaluate if they have fallen short of that standard and then working on maintaining that level of care on a consistent basis. It seems as though HCOs fall into a rut of complacency and ramp up efforts just before a visit from the AAAHC, instead of maintaining a high standard that the initial inspection
The most recent handbook is a 213 page document the outlines the rules of the triple AAAHC as far as accreditation, scheduling the inspection and payment. The rest of the handbook is broken into eight chapters that correspond with the inspected items of an AAAHC visit. These eight chapters are; Patient Rights and Responsibilities, Governance, Administration, Quality of Care Provided, Quality Management and Improvement, Clinical Records and Health Information, Infection Prevention and Control & Safety, and Facilities and Environment (AAAHC, n.d.). Within each section there are checklist items that correlate with the specific inspections item. The checklists range from 20-40 items and establish if the HCO is substantially, partially or not compliant. These standards are not overly rigorous, one checklist item evaluates if patients are treated with dignity and respect, nor are the standards vague in any