Perspectives of hospital chief executive or chief operating officers regarding the hospital accreditation and certification process

This qualitative study explored the perspectives of eight senior leaders regarding the JCAHO accreditation and CMS certification process because of their influence and authority to decide which external quality oversight process their respective organizations will use. To shed additional insight, the study included the perspectives of three quality assurance directors because of their close involvement with the external quality oversight process. The study indicated that hospitals that changed to certification did not experience a decrease in quality or patient volumes and that the survey process had value because of its focus on what is actually practiced. In comparison, accredited hospitals, by in large, did not have the same level of satisfaction because of the variability in how surveyors interpret the standards and because it takes a great deal of resources to prepare for a survey that focuses more on what is in the policy manual rather than what is actually practiced.