Exporting Australian quality and safety healthcare standards to China

Background

Accreditation is recognition by a healthcare standards accreditation body of the achievement of accreditation standards by a health care organisation. An independent external peer assessment of the organisation’s level of performance in relation to the standards is usually carried out for accreditation purposes.

The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) is recognised as the leading health care accreditation body in Australia and now meets overseas requests for a quality healthcare accreditation program through ACHS International (ACHSI). The EQuIP Program is internationally recognised as a leading quality improvement and accreditation system with an increasing membership base. The EQuIP standards are themselves accredited by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua).

There is a rapidly developing healthcare market in China with opportunities for Australian health providers to deliver services from training to operations management.

Ting Yan writes in http://www.scmp.com/news/china/money-wealth/article/1896406/chinese-hospitals-pursue-international-accreditation-tempt :

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 29 December, 2015, 11:33pm UPDATED : Tuesday, 01 March, 2016, 11:22am

• Hospitals in China are increasingly getting accreditation from international medical organisations to attract overseas patients and improve their management, according to consultants and a group involved in the vetting process. One of the accreditation programmes is run by the US-based non-profit making organisation Joint Commission International, or JCI.
• The first organisation was accredited in China in 2003.
• Private hospitals on the mainland find it hard to get an official grading from the health authorities so find an international accreditation useful
• Hospitals also hope to target foreign patients as “JCI accreditation is an important indicator for a hospital management level in the eyes of international insurance companies”
• … mainland hospitals get accreditation through a TUV-SQS certificate issued by the German technical medical services provider TUV Rheinland.
• Most medical centres in the Hong Kong territory use an Australian accreditation programme

Investigation

Is it feasible to export an Australian healthcare accreditation program to China and what should this process look like?

The final report should include findings or recommendations on:

• Barriers and limitations to successful export and how other organisations may have overcome these
• Who stands to benefit from this program of work
• Opportunities for collaboration between Australian healthcare organisations and Chinese healthcare organisations to support accreditation

Resources

The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS): http://www.achs.org.au/

The International Society for Quality in Health Care: http://www.isqua.org/