Accreditation in healthcare refers to the official review process that allows healthcare organizations to demonstrate their ability to meet official regulatory standards and to implement ways to continuously improve. Accreditation is awarded upon successful completion of an on-site survey, which is conducted by a specially trained surveyor or team of surveyors who assess the organizations compliance to the standards. Accreditation is used to measure the quality of healthcare organizations and is an important component in patient safety. Accreditation has been defined as "A self-assessment and external peer assessment process used by health care organizations to accurately assess their level of performance in relation to established standards and to implement ways to continuously improve".

Here are some key points about accreditation in healthcare:

• Accreditation is an external review of quality with four principal components: it is based on written and published standards, reviews are conducted by professional peers, the accreditation process is administered by an independent body, and the aim of accreditation is to encourage organizational development.

• Accreditation is used to measure the quality of healthcare organizations. Going through the accreditation process will help organizations highlight strengths, reaffirm their commitment to compliance, and drive continuous improvement.

• Accreditation is an important component in patient safety. Accreditation systems are structured so as to provide objective measures for the external evaluation of quality and quality management.

• Accreditation is awarded upon successful completion of an on-site survey, which is conducted by a specially trained surveyor or team of surveyors who assess the organizations compliance to the standards.

• Accreditation for most types of organizations is a three-year award, except for laboratory accreditation, which is a two-year award.

• Evidence that accreditation improves healthcare quality is limited. While accreditation programs have burgeoned since their origins just over a century ago, based on a perception that they deliver on their promise of quality assurance and improvement, the paucity of peer-reviewed, published evidence demonstrating their impact is noteworthy.

In summary, accreditation in healthcare is an official review process that allows healthcare organizations to demonstrate their ability to meet official regulatory standards and to implement ways to continuously improve. Accreditation is an important component in patient safety and is used to measure the quality of healthcare organizations.