6 MEDICAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS WITH THE BEST NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ACCREDITATION ORGANIZATIONS & HOSPITALS
Whether you are looking for the best healthcare in India or want to know if you can trust any hospitals in Thailand, England or the United States, you need a way to assess the quality and safety of the healthcare they give. Healthcare accreditation organizations are the solution to this problem; ensuring healthcare providers offer the best healthcare quality and safety through upholding world-class healthcare standards.
Often the best national healthcare accreditation organizations base their programs and guidelines off of internationally recognized ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards. However, unless the hospital is internationally accredited, it's not always so easy to know if the national accreditation follows international standards.
To make things a bit easier when planning your next medical excursion overseas, here are 6 medical tourism destinations that have some of the best national healthcare accreditation organizations.
1. England
Care Quality Commission CQC
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) are "the independent regulator of health and social care in England" and everything about them spells quality care and compassion as an essential ingredient of a thriving healthcare system.
Using a Care Quality Commission accredited hospital of care facility will ensure that quality care is given. The CQC monitors the services and enforces an improved standard, taking action to protect people where necessary.
With a particular focus on care for vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly and those who are restricted under the Mental Health Act, CQC endeavors to improve the quality of all accredited care givers. Across England, they have set the standard for outstanding care.
2. UK & Britain
Human Tissue Authority (HTA)
The HTA is a public entity that was set up by Parliament in the UK during 2005. The building of the HTA is a response to a discovery in the 90s that some hospitals were removing and retaining human organs and tissue without consent.
As specified on the HTA website, their mission is to "regulate organisations that remove, store and use human tissue for research, medical treatment, post-mortem examination, education and training, and display in public. We also give approval for organ and bone marrow donations from living people."
Any of the above type of organizations can be accredited by the HTA to ensure that strict standards are maintained, increasing the chance of safety and quality of medical research, surgery and more in the UK.
MYA Care can connect you with HTA accredited healthcare providers. This is especially important for those of you who are considering a medical trip to the UK for surgery of any kind!
Joint Advisory Group on GI Endoscopy (JAG) Accreditation
Specifically suited for those who are traveling to the UK for GI surgery and endoscopy, make sure you opt for a hospital or surgeon who is JAG standard compliant.
The current JAG accreditation scheme in place is regarded as one of the most innovative health accreditations both in the UK and overseas. JAG has helped revolutionize patient care in the niche of GI endoscopy, an area of medicine that requires particular healthcare standards for optimal results.
JAG accreditation extends to screening the quality of endoscopic training, services and endoscopists that are made available in UK-based hospitals, with data suggesting it makes a favorable impact. A few overseas hospitals have taken to following JAG accreditation standards for endoscopy to improve their patient experience.
Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001:2007
The British Standard OHSAS 18001:2007 refers to a set of standards for an international management system developed by national British standard bodies and registrations.
This standard is compatible with the International ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standard series, as well as American National Health and Safety Management System Standards.
For those who want to seek our healthcare in Britain, this OHSAS spells out good news. Any hospital or healthcare facility that is OHSAS compliant will offer safer than average healthcare at an international level of quality. The OHSAS enforces that healthcare providers routinely check safety, hygiene, quality of service, communication and more.
3. America
CAP - Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists
While JCI and other prestigious international hospital accreditation organizations rose from the US, there is one national US committee dedicated to accrediting medical laboratories, ensuring that they are optimizing safety and quality of laboratory procedures.
They do this through their accreditation by making use of scientifically-accurate, customized checklist requirements that monitor laboratories over long periods of time.
If a lab or hospital with a private laboratory is CAP accredited, it means that they are also licensed, following safe legitimate practices, likely to produce more accurate results and offer enhanced value to their customers.
CAP is also recognized internationally by JCI and CMS, even though it is a national accreditation.
4. India
Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR)
The ICMR is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world and is dedicated to furthering biomedical research as well as solving India's healthcare problems, including but not limited to improving the quality of healthcare in India. Dedicated to empowering the people, the ICMR has done much research on folk remedies and India's rich history of medicinal plants, bringing alive the traditional medicine that India is revered for.
Indian national health guidelines for national accreditation are influenced by the ICMR and any ART clinic that is ICMR accredited would make a good medical tourist destination.
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH)
Another accreditation that indicates good quality in a hospital in India would be NABH accreditation. This is the most commonly used accreditation board in India, accrediting and training not only hospitals but also blood banks, clinics, general practices, wellness centres, clinical trials and more.
As stated on their website: "National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers known as NABH is committed to support improvement of quality of healthcare service in our country for all strata of the population through various methodologies and tools to supplement the efforts of the providers of healthcare service.."
To avoid mistakenly booking with a hospital that is under-staffed with inadequate equipment or low standards, it is best to choose one that is accredited with the NABH.
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)
The NABL can be seen as a sister organization to NABH, doing precisely the same accreditation and training but for laboratories and third party testing facilities.
Their mission is as follows: "To Strengthen the accreditation system accepted across the globe by providing high quality, value driven services, fostering APLAC/ILAC MRA, empanelling competent assessors, creating awareness among the stake holders, initiating new programs supporting activities and pursuing organisational excellence."
If you need some lab work done in India, NABL accreditation ensures that you are met with the best national standard that India has to offer.
5. Thailand
The Healthcare Accreditation Institute
Thailand is one of the most beautiful and exotic locations on the planet and thanks to that, their medical tourism has been thriving there since it became a thing.
Thailand maintains a high level of healthcare, whether in the public or private sector. The Healthcare Accreditation Institute in Thailand is a public organization that began over 20 years ago in order to provide mechanisms to improve hospital quality.
For many years, this national healthcare accreditation organization shaped the standard of healthcare in Thailand to meet global standards, using ISQua protocol to base their assessment process on. What sets this accreditation apart from many others is that the training and standards take into account the spiritual beliefs of the patients, offering only the best quality of personalized care down to taking the patient's belief structure into consideration.
Nowadays, the Healthcare Accreditation Institute services more than 1000 public and private sector hospitals in Thailand. Keep an eye out for this if planning a medical journey there.
6. Asia & Malaysia
Asian Society for Quality in Health Care (ASQua)
ASQua is the Asian branch of the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua).
Both ASQua and ISQua are non-profit organizations that work to maintain a high standard of global healthcare and quality of healthcare.
As of 2019, ISQua's healthcare accreditation evaluation became an entity known as the International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (IEEA).
The IEEA takes pride in developing personalized programs, schemes, guidelines and education to hospitals, physicians and healthcare providers in an attempt to further improve their quality of service and health care for the patient.
All hospitals in Asia may be accredited with ASQua, which suggests that they maintain stringent global standards. Note that while ASQua and ISQua accreditation is excellent, it is not yet recognized by any public institutions or governments as an official accreditation.
Malaysian Society for Quality and Health (MSQH)
Out of all the places to visit in Asia, Malaysia has both a beautiful setting and some of the best national healthcare accredited hospitals and healthcare providers.
The Malaysian Society for Quality and Health is a non-profit organization dedicated to accrediting healthcare providers, services and facilities (namely dentists, dialysis, clinics and hospitals).
The MSQH works closely with ISQua, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Malaysian Medical Association, the Ministry of Health and the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia to make sure the standard of healthcare is at a world-class level.
Final Thoughts
When traveling abroad for healthcare, it is important to know what national accreditation and healthcare providers you can trust. By looking out for any of the above accreditations in the countries of their origin, you ought to be in safe hands that offer quality healthcare.
The MYA Care platform further takes the effort out by providing you with all the information you need alongside immediate access to the world's top accredited institutions on both a national and international level.
To search for the best healthcare providers worldwide, please use the Mya Care search engine.
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