Health Care Accreditation Council awards accreditation to Jordan Hospital

Mr. Darwazeh noted that the HCAC's goal is to raise the level of quality and improve patient safety with each accreditation and that the HCAC Board has so far accredited two hospitals from the 24 pilot hospitals across Jordan involved in the HCAC Hospital Accreditation program which has been in progress for more than two years.

Mr. Darwazeh added that Accreditation by HCAC sets recipient Hospitals apart as Hospitals awarded HCAC accreditation dedicate themselves to continuous improvement in quality and patient safety within their facility.

To achieve accreditation, a hospital must undergo a voluntary thorough assessment of their entire processes to ensure compliance with HCAC Hospital Standards which are standards that are internationally accredited in their own right by the world steward of health care accreditation organizations - The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua).

Mr. Darwazeh said:

"By having ISQUA recognition of the HCAC Hospital accreditation standards, recipients of HCAC accreditation are internationally recognized for their achievement. Health Care Accreditation is now becoming a world wide trend and demand not just by the health care community to ensure quality in health care facilities for patients, health care providers and any person entering such facilities, but also by insurance companies and third party payers for reimbursement and medical tourism."

It is to be noted that the Ministry of Health in Jordan recognized this global trend early on and initiated work jointly with USAID to establish a national independent body that can promote quality and patient safety in healthcare, where the National Health Strategy (2006-2010) indicated that need to establish such an entity as part of the Strategic Direction for improvement of quality in health care, and this was emphasized in the recently approved Ministry of Health Strategic Plan which stipulates application of HCAC Hospital accreditation standards across all its hospitals.

The international recognition of HCAC Hospital accreditation Standards by ISQUA puts HCAC amongst the few national accreditation programs around the world that have ISQua accreditation for their hospital standards.