According to Hussein, Pavolva, Ghalwash and Groot, in their systematic literature review of the impact of hospital accreditation on the quality of healthcare1, there is “a consistent positive effect of hospital accreditation on safety culture, process-related performance measures, efficiency, and the patient length of stay, whereas employee satisfaction, patient satisfaction and experience, and 30-day hospital readmission rate were found to be unrelated to accreditation”.

When a hospital seeks accreditation, it does so not because it is part of a contractual agreement with a payer such as an international insurance company, but because

it wishes to demonstrate to patients that care is of the highest quality. After all, patients are consumers of healthcare services, and as with everything else we consume, quality matters. It just matters that much more when we are considering a hospital for a procedure involving a risk to our health and wellbeing. When it comes to the international healthcare community of payers, however, accreditation also means that an insurer or assistance provider can rely – to some extent at least – on external accreditation services, and save themselves valuable time and money on visiting every single facility in their network twice a year. Network managers have a hard enough time as it is ensuring their networked hospitals are providing the right care, without having to audit them every six months. So, external accreditation can bring in additional revenue for medical providers, who wish to be able to confirm to their trusted insurance partners that their standards remain in place and are of the highest quality.

It’s not just in revenue that a hospital can benefit from the accreditation process. While it may be time-consuming and costly from a staffing perspective, ultimately the rewards can be long-lasting. According to Devkaran and O’Farrell in their an interrupted time series analysis of the impact of hospital accreditation on quality measures2, preparation for the accreditation process resulted in a significant improvement in quality performance outcomes. Although there was a dip in outcomes afterwards, the authors note: “There is residual benefit from accreditation three years later with performance maintained at approximately 90%, which is 20 percentage points higher than the baseline level in 2009.”

CEO Dr Claudia Mika shares the organisation’s activities from 2023, and its outlook for 2024

For Temos International, 2023 was a very busy year. We completed accreditation and re-accreditation projects in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, Seychelles, Hungary, and Trinidad and Tobago.The first onsite visit of an Egyptian Hospital that applied for the Excellence in Medical Tourism accreditation under the Temos-GAHAR (Egyptian national accreditation body) programme was in November 2023. In 2024, we look forward to adding further countries to our ‘accredited partner map’. We already signed accreditation agreements with organisations from KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Lebanon, Georgia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and South East Asia.

Our standard review teams reviewed our medical and dental standards and we submitted them for re-accreditation by ISQua EEA (International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association).

Temos Academy takes off

A big milestone was reached in March 2023 when we formally launched our Temos Academy. We conducted initial training for new assessors, a C-level training on medical tourism standards in cooperation with Badr University in Cairo, signed several MoUs [memorandums of understanding] with different universities, and have joined different Erasmus projects.

In June 2023, we welcomed an Iraqi delegation of healthcare experts for the third time, who joined us for the Iraqi-German Conference on Quality in Healthcare.

Another customer training on our revised version of the medical standards took place in November 2023. In addition, we have completed customised training and consultancy projects in different parts of the world.

Due to the great feedback and many inquiries, the Temos Academy will further increase its training and consultancy offers in 2024. We will soon announce the call for trainers.

Last but not least, we welcomed 15 new assessors to the team, as well as new colleagues at the headquarters and in different regional offices.

A rundown of JCI’s key achievements of 2023, and what to expect in 2024

Last year, as well as years prior, JCI accredited more international healthcare organisations than any other accrediting organisation. In 2023, JCI accredited and certified more than 1,100 healthcare organisations. This includes 93 organisations that achieved JCI accreditation recognition for the first time. Here, we’ll run through some of our notable achievements and new programmes introduced in 2023.

JCI Enterprise Accreditation programme

Enterprise Accreditation is a new level of JCI accreditation awarded to eligible healthcare organisations.  After completing a pilot programme last year, the JCI accreditation programme was announced to help multi-facility organisations evaluate system-wide governance, policies and procedures, and their implementation across its individual facilities.

Enterprise Accreditation is awarded to eligible healthcare organisations that own multiple locations and want to foster a culture of continuous improvement by promoting leading practices and processes. During the very short span of its introduction, more than five major health systems have already achieved the JCI Enterprise Accreditation status.

JCI Telehealth Certification programme

Patients across the globe used telehealth services at staggering rates during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and it remains a key modality of care. While telehealth has the potential to improve patients’ access to care and help them maintain regular contact with their providers (especially those dealing with chronic health issues), it requires rigour and standardisation to ensure safe and quality care. JCI has collaborated with industry experts and leaders to create standards that ensure safe, highly reliable telehealth care. JCI Telehealth Certification is an additional recognition awarded to JCI-accredited organisations that provides telehealth services following a thorough evaluation of policies, procedures, and the implementation of telehealth technologies to deliver patient care.

JCI Long Term Care 2nd Edition Standards

In 2023, JCI released 2nd Edition Standards for the growing demographic of long-term care settings. JCI’s Long Term Care Accreditation programme accredits a variety of long-term care needs, including assisted living facilities, rehabilitation centres, chronic care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and long-term acute care facilities.

JCI Clinical Care Certification Programme (CCPC)

Last year, JCI also released 4th Edition Standards for its Clinical Care Certification Program. JCI’s certification programmes are designed to evaluate quality of care and patient safety of clinical care programmes for healthcare organisations. JCI-accredited healthcare organisations may seek certification as an additional level of recognition for care and services provided for any chronic disease or condition. Like accreditation, JCI certification requires an evaluation by JCI. It covers compliance with the standards and verifies improvement activities.

New environmental sustainability standards

JCI announced collaboration agreement with the International Hospital Federation’s (IHF) Geneva Sustainability Centre to develop environmental sustainability standards for international hospitals outside of the US. Climate change is the biggest threat to human health, affecting patients, the healthcare workforce, service delivery, and the wider community. The new environmental sustainability standards will help address shared challenges and create consistency at national and international levels. They will focus on five areas, including governance, employee engagement, procurement practices infrastructure, and use of environmental resources. The goal is to develop evidence-based standards that will adhere to core principles of sustainability that are applicable in most settings. This represents an essential step in reducing the carbon footprint of hospitals while also addressing quality and safety.

Joint Commission Arabia Management

Also during 2023, JCI further expanded its presence in the Middle East and Africa by opening Joint Commission Arabia Management. The new office deepens JCI’s commitment to improving healthcare in KSA and the region. Since 2006, JCI has had regional headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and accredits more than 400 healthcare organisations in the Middle East and Africa – with 27% of these healthcare organisations located in Saudi Arabia.

Looking ahead to 2024

We have two exciting new developments we’re particularly looking forward to in 2024.

JCI Accreditation Standards for Hospitals and Academic Medical Centers (AMC), 8th Edition

A new edition of the JCI Accreditation Standards and Survey Process Guide will be released in July 2024, with an effective date of 1 January 2025. The 8th Edition includes new chapters on Global Health Impact (GHI), which address environmental sustainability and healthcare technology, as well as new requirements that address workplace violence, cybersecurity, telehealth, and risks of diagnostic error.

JCI Continuous Accreditation Program for hospitals and AMCs

This is a revolutionary programme for everyone involved. In the current accreditation model, hospitals and AMCs are accredited every three years. The goal of the JCI Continuous Accreditation Program is to transition from an episodic to a continuous accreditation programme that supports an ongoing partnership with the hospitals in advancing their quality and safety. The concept of a survey will change to support a mindset of continuous improvement rather than preparing for an event that occurs once every three years. JCI’s new Continuous Accreditation Program will feature regular interactions with JCI experts and learning opportunities.

A dedicated coach will help the healthcare organisation define and plan actions to resolve these findings, one by one. Healthcare organisations will also have access to technology so that they can track and share certain outcomes or process measures to positively affect improvements. By establishing multiple touch points with the hospital throughout their journey, by time for reassessment, JCI will have a good understanding of what has happened within the last few years. In essence, JCI becomes an extension of the organisation’s quality improvement team.