In healthcare, licensing and accreditation programs are designed to enhance the quality of healthcare experts and facilities. Licensing bodies are legislative, governmental bodies which provide healthcare professional and organizations the legal right to operate. On the other hand, accrediting bodies are non-legal bodies that provide certificates to healthcare professionals and organizations that meet certain quality standards or have completed training or testing provided by the body. In this paper, the licensing and accreditation programs governing Nationwide Children’s Hospital will be explored.
Accreditations
Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a pediatric hospital located in Ohio. The healthcare facility provides medical and surgical hospital services. There are a number of accreditations governing Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Nationwide Children’s Hospital is accredited by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) from the American College of Surgeons (Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 2020). The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is accredited by the Foundation of the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) (Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 2020). CoC accreditation is mandatory, whereas FACT accreditation is not mandatory. Furthermore, these two accreditation programs differ in a number of aspects. First, CoC is provided by the American College of Surgeon, while FACT accreditation is provided by FACT. Secondly, CoC accreditation is for organizations that deal with cancer prevention, whereas FACT accreditation is for organizations that deal with stem cell transplants and cellular therapy practices.
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The purpose of CoC accreditation is to establish standards to ensure accredited healthcare organizations, such as Nationwide Children’s Hospital, provide quality, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive cancer care. In this respect, CoC promotes cancer prevention, research, education, and monitoring of comprehensive quality care. On the other hand, the purpose of FACT to formulate and disseminate evidence-based guidelines or standards pertaining to stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy practices (Maus & Nikiforow, 2017). FACT accreditation helps Nationwide Children’s Hospital meet standards in patient care and laboratory practices.
The CoC and FACT accreditations are important to patients, to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and healthcare. With regard to patients, CoC and FACT accreditations assure patients that Nationwide Children’s Hospital is committed to quality patient care. By achieving CoC and FACT accreditation, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is informing patients, healthcare experts, insurance agencies, and the government that it meets or exceeds standards in patient care and laboratory practices. In healthcare, CoC and FACT provide guidelines or standards pertaining to cancer prevention and stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy services, respectively.
To achieve and maintain CoC and FACT accreditation, there are several requirements and resources that Nationwide Children’s Hospital ought to meet. With regard to CoC accreditation, the eligibility requirements include facility accreditation, cancer committee authority, cancer conference policy, oncology nurse leadership, and cancer registry policy and procedures (Christian, 2019). The facility ought to provide the following services to achieve and maintain the accreditation: diagnostic imaging, radiation oncology, system therapy, clinical research information, psychological services, rehabilitation services, and nutrition services (Christian, 2019). The process of accreditation involves completing and submitting the Eligibility Application and submitting a nonrefundable registration fee. With regard to FACT accreditation, a facility must perform autologous and/or allogeneic transplants, use products collected and processed in facilities that meet FACT standards, have a detailed transplant team, and meet the current FACT standards (FACT, 2020). The process of accreditation involves completing and submitting the Eligibility Application and submitting a nonrefundable registration fee.
Licensing
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital is licensed by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Lead Certification (Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 2020b). Both CLIA and ODH Lead Certification licensures are mandatory. The purpose of CLIA is to provide regulations that guide the testing of human specimens for health assessment or to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease. ODH Lead Certification aims to ensure that the public receives safe and proper lead abatement, detection, and analytical services. ODH lead certification is part of Ohio’s government to ensure healthcare organizations are registered and must report certain information to the ODH every year as per Section 3701.07 of the Ohio Revised Code. This includes reporting information pertaining to lead use.
The CLIA and ODH Lead Certification is important in healthcare for various reasons. First, these licensure programs ensure a healthcare organization has the legal right to operate. Secondly, these two licensure programs give credibility and stature for patients and other stakeholders in the healthcare sectors, which would incrementally enhance the quality of care and access to quality care. In short, these licensure programs help ensure healthcare organizations provide quality care while adhering to the standards or regulations set in the healthcare industry. Thus, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital ought to abide by the standards outlined in these licensures.
However, there are cases where organizations fail to comply with the licensure program. This may result in a number of consequences. First, the organization risks losing the license. This means that the organization may not have the legal right to operate. Secondly, the loss of licensure may lead to legal issues. Thus, organizations ought to be very careful to ensure they do not lose their licensure.
References
Christian, K. (2019). Eligibility requirements for CoC accreditation and improving cancer committee meetings. [Online]. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://www.facs.org/-/media/files/quality-programs/cancer/cluster/coc_christian.ashx
Maus, M. V., & Nikiforow, S. (2017). The why, what, and how of the new FACT standards for immune effector cells. Journal for immunotherapy of cancer , 5 (1), 36.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital. (2020). Accreditations and Affiliations. [Online]. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/hematology-oncology-bmt/about-us/accreditations-and-affiliations#:~:text=Nationwide%20Children's%20is%20accredited%20by,the%20American%20College%20of%20Surgeons .
Nationwide Children’s Hospital. (2020b). Licenses and accreditations. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/laboratory-services/for-providers/licenses--accreditations
The Foundation of the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). (2020). Process overview. [Online]. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from http://www.factwebsite.org/accreditationprocess/
