PROFESSIONAccreditation extends to clinical trials, officesThe process has gone beyond hospitals to address the quality of other health arenas. Meanwhile some hospitals are dropping out, by closure or by choice.By Damon Adams, amednews staff. Aug. 27, 2001. At one time, accreditation was a process designed to fit hospitals. But today, there seems to be no shortage of health care arenas that are ripe for the "seal of approval" and aura of quality that comes with a successful accreditation. Those arenas include clinical studies, office-based surgery and health Web sites. Some accrediting groups are even eyeing doctors' offices as the next frontier. Much of the expansion is sparked by a push toward recognizing quality care, which is fueled by government reports about hospital errors and a struggling health care system. "People are concerned about who is assuring them that everything to manage safety is being done," said Russell P. Massaro, MD, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations executive vice president of accreditation operations. A federal report in April recommended that private accreditation be established to certify that research programs meet strict standards to safeguard participants of medical studies. Prompting the call to action was the death of a human subject in a gene therapy experiment and the closing of programs that had flaws in the way they conducted research. The Institute of Medicine report said accreditation should be done by independent, nongovernmental agencies and should apply to all research programs, including doctors' offices that conduct drug trials. In September, the National Committee for Quality Assurance will start conducting surveys for a new accreditation program to protect human research participants at Veterans Affairs medical centers. The Assn. for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs will begin accrediting research institutions in January 2002.
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Copyright 2001 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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