AAAHC Analysis Finds Increased Citations For Infection Prevention, Safety
By Jay Kumar
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) earlier this month released its 2022 Quality Roadmap, an analysis of data from 2,016 accreditation surveys conducted in 2021-22. The accreditor encourages healthcare organizations to use the report to establish benchmarks and identify standards in areas of high compliance and high deficiency.
“With this annually published tool, our accredited facilities can identify themes that deserve special attention as they pursue ongoing quality improvement throughout the accreditation term,” said Noel Adachi, MBA, president and CEO of AAAHC, in a release. “In this way, we can learn from each other and take corrective action, as necessary. While our 2022 Quality Roadmap report indicates that most facilities surveyed are in compliance with the majority of Standards, it also includes several areas that warrant improvement.”
The report analyzes accredited organization compliance ratings based on onsite surveys conducted from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. Organizations surveyed include ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), Medicare Deemed Status ASCs, office-based surgery practices, and primary care settings.
The AAAHC said many deficiencies were similar to previous years’ findings, but found an increase in citations in areas related to infection prevention and control, and safety, personnel, and quality of care. Surveyors also noted that facilities continue to have challenges in emergency preparedness, documentation management, and credentialing and privileging.
The report also found that organizations showed improvement in several areas within the ambulatory and Medicare Deemed Status standards, including:
- Conduct business as a legally constituted entry
- Ensure professional development and support the improvement of staff performance
- A physician or qualified provider is present to address medical emergencies
- Educate patients regarding their condition or illness
- Pharmaceutical services are directed by a licensed provider
The 2022 Quality Roadmap is available for download.