• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

New AOA infection control standards

Accreditation Connection, May 17, 2004

The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) is revamping its IC standards to reflect ongoing efforts to reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAI).

The AOA's Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) is adding four IC-based safe-practice initiatives to its accreditation manual. The initiatives were included in the National Quality Forum's 2003 report, Safe Practices for Better Healthcare: A Consensus Report, says HFAP Manager Michele Kala, RN, MS.

The new standards include the following:

The IC chapter is only part of HFAP's requirements. The Accreditation Requirements for Healthcare Facilities manual includes specific citations of IC standards throughout its 11 chapters. HFAP divides the manual by healthcare product or service type.

"We maintain our manual along service lines because that's how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] has its standards aggregated," Kala says.

Although it only accredits a fraction of the facilities that participate in JCAHO accreditation, HFAP has been growing, adding 50 hospitals in the past 18 months, notes Kala. At presstime, the JCAHO accredited 4,644 hospitals.

The AOA conducts its three-year accreditation inspections in more than 300 hospitals, ambulatory centers, and behavioral-health facilities. The association began accrediting facilities in 1945, initially limiting accreditation to osteopathic facilities.

Now, the AOA accredits nonosteopathic facilities as well, Kala says. "The biggest challenge was making it known that we can accredit nonosteopathic facilities," she adds.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive