What is NABH?

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NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) is a constituent board of Quality Council of India Certification, set up to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organizations. NABH was established in 2006.

Organisations like the Quality Council of India (QCI) and its National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers have designed an exhaustive healthcare standard for hospitals and healthcare providers. This standard consists of stringent 600 plus objective elements for the hospital to achieve in order to get the NABH accreditation. These standards are divided between patient centered standards and organization centred standards.

To comply with these standard elements, the hospital will need to have a process-driven approach in all aspects of hospital activities – from registration, admission, pre-surgery, peri-surgery and post-surgery protocols, discharge from the hospital to follow up with the hospital after discharge. Not only the clinical aspects but the governance aspects are to process driven based on clear and transparent policies and protocols. In a nutshell, NABH aims at streamlining the entire operations of a hospital.

Is Nabh accreditation mandatory?

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The empanelment of thousands of hospitals, which do not have NABH entry-level accreditation, was in jeopardy as an earlier directive had made accreditation a mandatory criterion for hospitals to allow cashless hospitalisation. Currently, only about 700-odd of the total estimated 60,000 hospitals are NABH accredited.Aug 1, 2018

What are the benefits of Accreditation?

• Accreditation benefits all Stake Holders. Patients are the biggest beneficiaries. Accreditation results in high quality of care and patient safety. The patients get services by credential medical staff. Rights of patients are respected and protected. Patient satisfaction is regularly evaluated.
• Accreditation to a Hospital stimulates continuous improvement. It enables hospital in demonstrating commitment to quality care. It raises community confidence in the services provided by the hospital. It also provides opportunity to healthcare unit to benchmark with the best.
• The Staff in an accredited hospital are satisfied lot as it provides for continuous learning, good working environment, leadership and above all ownership of clinical processes. It improves overall professional development of Clinicians and Paramedical staff and provides leadership for quality improvement within medicine and nursing.
• Accreditation provides an objective system of empanelment by insurance and other Third Parties. Accreditation provides access to reliable and certified information on facilities, infrastructure and level of care.