NABH Accreditation

National Accreditation Board of Hospital and Health Care Providers (NABH Accreditation)

Compiled by Alok Bains

NABH Accreditation:

NABH is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India. It was established by the Government of India in 2005 with a mission to create quality healthcare in India. It mainly focuses on patient safety and quality of the hospital services.  It builds quality culture at all levels across and across all departments of healthcare organisations.

NABH accreditation has improved the hospital's approach to delivering healthcare services to patients. It has also sensitised healthcare workers and patients towards their rights and responsibilities.NABH accreditation standards are internationally recognised. NABH is also a board member of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), Asian Society for Quality in Healthcare (ASQua) and Accreditation Council of International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua). 

NABH issues accreditation certification for seven types of healthcare providers. These are 

1. Entry-Level Hospitals: Hospitals with more than 50 beds are under entry-level healthcare organisations (HCO). 

2. Entry-Level SHCO: Hospitals with less than 50 beds are under entry-level small healthcare organisations (SHCO).

3. Entry-Level AYUSH  Centre: Small-scale AYUSH hospitals and daycare hospitals cannot fulfil the standards of HCO and SHCO. Thus NABH launched separate accreditation criteria for the Entry-Level AYUSH  Centre and Entry-Level AYUSH  hospitals.

4. Entry-Level AYUSH  Hospital.

5. Nursing Excellence: NABH framed guidelines to evaluate nursing services in healthcare organisations.

6. Medical Laboratory Program: Medical laboratory conduct several test samples. Reports from the medical laboratory are used to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases. NABH framed a separate outline for its accreditation. 

7. The emergency department in hospitals: NABH provides a framework for quality care and patient safety in the emergency department of the hospital. The emergency accreditation standards built a culture of safety at all levels.

   • Hospitals up to 50 beds shall have 2 beds emergency department, 

   • Hospitals with 51 to 100 beds shall have 4 beds emergency department, 

   • Hospitals with 101 to 200 beds shall have 6 beds emergency department, 

   • Hospitals with 201 to 350 beds shall have 8 beds emergency department,  

   • Hospitals with more than 350 beds shall have 10 beds emergency department, 

Here we will discuss the NABH accreditation of the allopathic hospitals under the HCO and SHCO categories.

NABH was established in 2005 and it developed accreditation standards for HCO in 2006. In 2014, NABH releases the first edition of pre-accreditation entry-level standards to encourage HCO for accreditation. The draft of the 2nd edition pre-accreditation entry-level standards was prepared in 2021. NADH develop pre-accreditation entry-level standards to encourage HCO for NADH accreditation. After receiving entry-level certification, HCO moves to the next stage "progressive level certification and finally to "full accreditation standards". 5th edition of NABH accreditation standards for hospitals was published in April 2020.

There are 10 chapters for the certification standards, They are further divided into 45 standards. There are 173 objectives to be achieved by using these 45 standards. These standards sanitise healthcare providers to adopt quality and patient safety frameworks. These standards are applicable to both government hospitals and private hospitals.   

NABH has partnered with the insurance regulatory and development authority of India (IRDA) to issue a certificate to the NABH accreditated allopathic healthcare organisations (HCO and SHCO). IRDA has made it mandatory for the health insurance company to proved cashless insurance facilities in the NABH accreditated healthcare organisations.

NABH has launched a healthcare organisation platform for entry-level certification (HOPE). Allopathic HCO and SHCO with inpatients and daycare facilities apply for accreditation with prescribed fees (Certification fee and virtual assessment fee) on HOPE. NABH conduct free training and awareness program throughout the year for aspirants. 

The followings are the outline for NABH entry-level certification.

1. Patient-centred standards.

   • Access, Assessment and continuity of care,

   • Care of patients,

   • Management of medication,

   • Patient right and education,

   • Hospital infection control.

2. Organisation-centred standards.

   • Continuous quality improvement,

   • Responsibility of the management,

   • Facility management and safety,

   • Human resource management,

   • Information management system.

3. Benefits of certifications.

   • Improved level f community confidence,

   • Quality and patient safety,

   • Patient-centred culture,

   • System-oriented approach,

   • Improved patient satisfaction,

   • External recognition,

   • Empanelment by insurance agencies.

4. Assisting healthcare organisations,

   1. Awareness creation

   2. Technology usage to ensure transparency,

   3. Continuous hand-holding.

      Compiled by Alok Bains