Quality Effort Aims to Improve Hospital Reimbursement Processes

Published: Wednesday, November 3, 2004 - 23:00

To that end, the organizations formed a new organization, TÜV Healthcare Specialists, which includes the National Institute for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (NIAHO). The new organization plans to apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to be granted “deeming authority as a national accreditation organization to certify hospitals to receive Medicare reimbursement.” Of the more than 6,000 hospitals in the United States, approximately 40 percent of all patient claims are paid for my government reimbursement. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) grants the authority to distribute reimbursements to only three agencies, none of which use ISO 9001 principles. According to TÜV Healthcare Specialists, implementing ISO 9001 in more hospital management systems would dramatically improve patient safety and operational performance.

When NIAHO receives CMS approval, the ISO registration provided by TÜV Healthcare Specialists and the CMS accreditation program will be combined into one complete survey program. The ISO registration and accreditation program that TÜV Healthcare Specialists has developed requires a hospital to be registered to ISO and also comply with the federal government’s Hospital Conditions of Participation for the Medicare program.

“Healthcare Specialists’ long-term expertise in the health care market, especially hospitals, is a perfect fit for our strategy to promote improved patient safety and economic effectiveness through the implementation is ISO 9001,” says Stefan Butz, TÜV America president and CEO. “The formation of TÜV Healthcare Specialists combines the strengths and expertise of HSI and TÜV America to jointly increase quality in the health care market.”

For more information, visit www.tuvamerica.com.

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