Lifespan management is a new phenomenon in the healthcare industry. It is aimed at improving a person’s health status, more so, aging individuals who require personal assistants to accomplish various activities (Alegbeleye, 2018). Additionally, lifespan management has laid the groundwork for preventive measures of hereditary infections, reduced mortality rates, and also acted as a driving factor to human beings in general. From the above merits of lifespan management, Alegbeleye (2018) further reports that people who live according to the principles of lifespan management tend to live longer than those who do not fathom their lifespan. From this discussion, it is clear that lifespan management has the potential to be the next big thing in the healthcare industry. The paper will discuss the importance of accreditation in lifespan management and contrast the levels of accreditation in lifespan management facilities. Lastly, the paper will also consider the implications of accreditation at the local, state, and federal levels.
Lifespan management facilities represent healthcare institutions that offer a set of specialized treatment services. In this case, most of the factors that affect global healthcare institutions directly apply to these facilities, albeit with a little modification. Accreditation is a collective term that has been used across all industries, with the most common one being the ISO trademark. Alkhenizan and Shaw (2011) define accreditation in healthcare as a voluntary program in which a set of experts evaluate the organization for compliance with a set of pre-established performance standards. Jha (2018) notes that accreditation in a hospital goes hand in hand with quality improvement, which results in better patient outcomes. This is further compounded by Alkhenizan and Shaw (2011), who note that accreditation programs, though somewhat expensive, improve clinical outcomes of a wide array of conditions.
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The Joint Commission is the most renowned organization in the United States that accredits healthcare institutions, reporting about 88% of all healthcare accreditations as of 2018 (Jha, 2018). The Commission further adds on to the purpose of accreditation by noting that an accredited institution affirms community confidence in the quality and safety of services offered (Joint Commission, 2020). Considering the painstakingly long process of accreditation, a community will find an accredited institution more preferable since they took their time to ensure that their services are up to standard. This preference leads to another benefit for the facility in that it has a competitive edge compared to the unaccredited hospitals. Additionally, The Joint Commission notes that in some states, it is a regulatory requirement to be accredited; hence accreditation fulfills this law.
Accreditation is usually done by one of the several bodies available to a healthcare organization. In the United States, agencies for accreditation include the Joint Commission, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the American Accreditation Health Care Commission, and the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. All of these bodies are unique based on their mission, activities, the composition of boards, and organizational histories. When it comes to the levels of accreditation, the federal level is the highest form, formulating standards of practice that are adopted by the other levels of accreditation. To look at it in another way, federal accreditation offers the basic minimum requirements on which other levels of accreditation build upon. In this case, the Joint Commission represents the national accreditors.
When it comes to the state level accreditation, the requirements are usually extrapolated from the federal requirements and adapted to suit the needs of a given state. Unlike the more generalized nature of the federal accreditation, state accreditation offers a more direct approach when it comes to governing the healthcare institutions within its boundaries. State accreditation also only works in the given state in which the hospital was accredited. Interstate accreditations do not occur since each state has its own set of laws. Local accreditation is the basic most form of accreditation. It is only useful in a given governing region, say a county. Accreditation at this level involves the adoption of a more specific approach to the needs of the community. Also, local accreditation provides the most significant control of standards of practice as compared to the other two levels.
Accreditation is not without its implications. At the federal level, accreditation ensures that all healthcare institutions conform to a certain level of the set guidelines and performance expectations. Also, federal accreditation ensures that international hospitals can set up shop in the country as long as they meet the federal requirements. At the state level, accreditation ensures that services in the state are uniform across all facilities. Furthermore, since each state has its laws, hospitals within the state jurisdiction are therefore expected to meet the minimum regulations. Local accreditation leads to the formation of facilities that can meet the needs of the people. Also, local accreditation promotes professionalism as it directly controls the services in the facilities.
References
Alegbeleye, A. J. (2018). Life Span Management. Geriatrics Health , 35.
Alkhenizan, A., & Shaw, C. (2011). Impact of accreditation on the quality of healthcare services: a systematic review of the literature. Annals of Saudi medicine , 31 (4), 407-416.
Jha, A. K. (2018). Accreditation, quality, and making hospital care better. Jama , 320 (23), 2410- 2411.
The Joint Commission. (2020). Why Achieve Accreditation . Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/accreditation-and-certification/become-accredited/why- achieve-accreditation/ .
