Full NABH Accreditation successfully done for 200+ hospitals !
Our leadership has 15+ years of experience and assessor level skills.
Full NABH accreditation standards for large hospitals are quite comprehensive, and requires assessor level skills. Also it is important for small healthcare organizations to understand the practical approach to NABH standards. With our experts and years of experience, your project execution will be efficient and cost effective
Full NABH Accreditation : Medigence has achieved highest number of successful NABH accreditations / Full NABH for various small and large hospitals accross Gujarat and nearby states
Full NABH Accreditation has different standards for small and large hospitals. Hospitals upto 50 beds are considered small hospitals, and hospitals with 50+ beds are considered large hospitals.
It takes years of experience to understand NABH standards which are quite subjective in nature
Medigence is popular amongst its clients for making these tasks easy for hospitals and for providing the right but cost effective solutions saving your time and resources.
What is Full NABH Accreditation ?
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH) was established in 2005 and is a constituent board of Quality Council of India(QCI). It has been established to create accreditation programs for hospitals and healthcare organizations with main objective to enhance the overall healthcare quality and patient safety. It provides various accreditation and certification programs for the hospitals, large and small regardless of their ownership, legal status and size.
NABH standards for accreditation are internationally approved by ISQua (International Society for Quality in Healthcare) based in Dublin, Ireland. ISQua is an international body that grants approval to healthcare accreditation bodies and accredits their standards across the world.
Hence the hospitals approved by Full NABH Accreditation have international recognition and the quality standards of these hospitals are in consonance with the global benchmarks. This provides the hospitals a platform to enhance medical tourism.
NABH is also a member of the Accreditation Council of ISQua. NABH is the founder member of Asian Society for Quality in Healthcare (ASQua) that is registered in Malaysia. It is also a member of the International Steering Committee of WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety on behalf of ISQua Accreditation Council.
For more information on NABH kindly visit https://www.nabh.co/gib.aspx
What are the advantages of Full NABH Accreditation ?
NABH certified / accredited hospitals undoubtedly have more benefits than the non certified/accredited hospitals. While Full NABH accreditation or NABH Entry Level Certification is mandatory for the hospitals who wish to provide cashless and reimbursement facilities to their patients, they are also highly benefited when they get empanelled with various government health schemes like Ayushman Bharat, PMJAY, MAA Yojana etc.
Further, patients are going to be highly benefited as they get the best quality of care and treatment compared to any non-NABH accredited hospital. NABH ensures that qualified and trained staff are involved in the patient care and thus the patients trusts the accredited hospitals more.
Hospital staff also feel more content as they get to learn continuously and are empowered by hospital processes. Employees also feel highly confident and they get a safe and secure working environment.
The hospital infrastructure, facilities and maintenance are certified and reliable to be accessed along with the level of care and safety.
As stated earlier, NABH accreditation being internationally recognized, it opens ample opportunities for medical tourism. The patients are now informed and understand the value of being treated in an accredited hospital.
What are Full NABH Accreditation Standards?
NABH standards are a set of evaluation criterias for the hospitals. They provide a comprehensive framework for quality of care and improvement in the hospitals as well as patient safety. Since 2005, the standards have been revised five times. Hence, currently 5th edition standards are being followed since 2020. NABH standards are revised every 4 years and hence the revision is due this year i.e. 2024 wherein NABH 6th edition standards will be introduced and shall be effective early next year i.e. 2025
NABH divides the category of hospitals into small healthcare organizations (SHCO) and large healthcare organizations (HCO). SHCOs are the hospitals which are less than 50 beds. In this case NABH 3rd Edition standards are currently effective. Hence any hospital having 1-50 bed can apply in this category. The standards are lesser compared to the HCOs which comprises more than 50 beds.
In order to get the NABH accreditation, the hospital has to comply with various standards and objective elements in the 10 chapters derived by NABH according to the 5th edition standards.
NABH Chapters are divided into the following categories :
Patient Centric Standards
Chapter 1 – Access, Assessment & Continuity of Care (AAC)
Chapter 2 – Care of Patients (COP)
Chapter 3 – Management of Medication (MOM)
Chapter 4 – Patient Rights & Education (PRE)
Chapter 5 – Hospital Infection Control (HIC)
Organisation Centric Standards
Chapter 6 – Patient Safety & Quality Improvement (PSQ)
Chapter 7 – Responsibility of Management (ROM)
Chapter 8 – Facility Management & Safety (FMS)
Chapter 9 – Human Resource Management (HRM)
Chapter 10 – Information Management System (IMS)
A copy of the NABH standards can be availed from the NABH website: Click Here
Who can apply for NABH?
Any healthcare organization, large or small aspiring to enhance the quality of their services for the benefit of their patients, employees, stakeholders and themselves can take a leap ahead and prepare for NABH accreditation.
NABH as it is internationally recognized, it boosts the impact of medical tourism for the hospital. In case the hospital is willing to empanel with an international insurance company,
it is important to have achieved an accreditation of international level approved by ISQua.
NABH accreditation or NABH entry level certification is mandatory for selection and empanelment of the hospital by all the public and private insurance companies according to the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India) regulation dated 29th July 2016 sited on the NABH website: https://nabh.co/Announcement/IRDA.pdf.
What is the duration of Full NABH Accreditation
Various phases guide the NABH accreditation process of the hospital. From preparing the hospital to achieve accreditation, there are various steps involved that need to be accomplished.
What is the process of NABH Accreditation?
Once the hospital decides to go for the full NABH accreditation, Medigence shall guide you in each and every step of the process starting from preparing the hospital till you receive the accreditation confirmation.
Preparing the hospital for NABH accreditation:
The hospital shall have to implement the NABH accreditation standards for at least 3 months before finally applying to NABH. Medigence team of experts will help your hospital in understanding the standards and practical solutions for implementing them.
- Preparing your hospital shall involve the following activities
- Performing Gap assessment of the hospital for infrastructure changes, equipment changes, licenses and regulatory requirements and human resources
- Sensitization of staff related to all the NABH standards
- Advisory support for the overall NABH Accreditation Process
- Documentation of all required policies and procedures
- Guidelines and tools for implementation of policies and procedures
- Guidelines for training programs
- Assistance in conducting Internal Assessments
- Guidance for conducting specialty wise Clinical Audits and Departmental Quality Audits
- Guideline for Statutory Requirements and Licenses
- Assistance for Quality Structure and Committee Functions
Registration & filling up the application form:
Once the hospital is ready, we shall help you to register on the NABH portal according to the new guidelines. Once you fill in the basic details and register your hospital, you will receive a temporary registration number. Our NABH consultant shall then help you in filling up the entire application form.
The application form is highly exhaustive and contains a very comprehensive sectioned questionnaire which requires plenty of details to be filled accurately, that too within a stipulated time. Once the application form is completely filled, the link for payment is activated and the hospital has to pay the annual fees online only. After the payment is successful, the hospital receives a permanent number.
Desktop Assessment:
Once the application form is successfully filled, the form will be reviewed and assessed by NABH online. Incase there is any non-compliance, the hospital is required to submit the closure report on the portal itself within a period of 7-15 days. The hospital only gets 2 such chances and still if the hospital fails to submit the closure report, the entire form is rejected and the hospital has to again start with the registration process and make fresh payment.
Our experienced team of NABH consultants ensures that the desktop assessment is successfully completed in a single attempt only.
Implementation, Monitoring & Mock assessment:
After desktop assessment, the hospital shall have around 1-2 months before they receive the on-site assessment dates. During this phase, our NABH experts shall ensure that all the training and implementation is an ongoing process, quality indicators are regularly monitored and mock drills are conducted as scheduled.
Just after receiving the assessment date, we shall conduct a mock assessment from another Medigence NABH expert in order to sensitize the staff as to what to expect during the actual assessment. Non-conformities shall be raised just the way it is expected in the on-site assessment and closure report will also be furnished. This exercise shall help the hospital to prepare itself fully and shall act as a grand rehearsal.
We shall also guide you about liaising with the assessor and plan the assessment schedule. Our consultant shall also guide you in preparing any assessment documentation as requested by the assessor.
On-site Assessment / Physical Assessment:
On-site assessment will be done by the NABH assessor appointed by NABH. During the on-site assessment our NABH consultant shall remotely assist you from the back-end. Post assessment briefing session will be conducted immediately so as to take a note of the non-compliances raised (if any) and prepare the closure report.
Preparing & submitting the non-compliance closure report:
The hospital will have a defined time (Total 60 days) to close all the non-compliances raised by the NABH assessor including the assessor’s review and both the cycles. Medigence will help you prepare and submit the closure report well within the timeline.
Committee Review & Certification
On successful acceptance of the closure report submitted, the hospital application will be sent to the certification committee for review. The committee may ask to furnish certain details after reviewing the application. Medigence shall also assist you during this final stage of your process and assist you in submission of the query reply. Final decisions taken by the committee will be then communicated to the hospital and certification will be awarded.
NABH Accreditation Committee Review & receiving Accreditation
On successful acceptance of the closure report submitted, the hospital application will be sent to the NABH accreditation committee for review. In the next consecutive month. The committee may ask to furnish certain details after reviewing the application. Medigence shall assist you during this final stage of your process and assist you in submission of the query reply. Final decisions taken by the committee will be then communicated to the hospital and accreditation will be awarded.
The accreditation once received is valid for a period of 4 years.
Surveillance
Maintaining the accreditation is always a challenge. NABH encourages continuous quality improvement at all levels during your accreditation cycle. Hence in order to ensure that the hospital is maintaining the standards and implementing them in the best of its intent, a surveillance assessment is planned every 16-18 months after the accreditation.
Renewal of accreditation
The hospital needs to apply for renewal at least 6 months before the expiry of the accreditation in order to maintain the continuity of the same. Applying before 6 months will help NABH to plan the assessment accordingly and the hospital shall have sufficient time to comply with any non-compliances raised during the assessment before the expiry date of the accreditation.