Licensing, Accreditation and Certification

Trident University International

Module 1 Case Assignment

MHM 522 Legal Aspects of Health Administration

Dr. Andrew Thurman

Introduction

Hospital accreditation is not the same as licensure or certification. Licensure is required to operate as a hospital and overseen by state government officials. Certification affords hospitals to participate in federally funded Medicare and Medicaid programs. Accreditation is 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.” (Raik, 2001) For this case assessment I will discuss accreditation and certification, their relative significance, as well as advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore I will discuss the deficiencies at King/Drew that resulted in the problems, and the current status and prognosis for the institution. I will use course provided material and personal research to make my case.

Licensing, Accreditation and Certification

Hospital accreditation is not the same as licensure or certification. Licensure is required to operate as a hospital and overseen by state government officials. Certification affords hospitals to participate in federally funded Medicare and Medicaid programs. Accreditation is 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.” (Raik, 2001) Continuous improvement should be the ultimate goal when providing health care to the public whether it is a private for profit organizations or a community health center that is not for profit.

There are both national and international accreditation bodies that survey and provide hospitals with accreditation. In the United States the...