HOUSTON, April 10, 2013 – Harris Health System will pursue accreditation from DNV Healthcare for its three hospitals. DNV’s unique program integrates ISO 9001 compliance with the Medicare Conditions of Participation. Harris becomes the third major hospital system in the Texas Medical Center switching to DNV, joining The Methodist Hospital System and St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, which have had 10 hospitals accredited by DNV.
 
“Accreditation has always been vital to our financial well being and a symbol of our dedication to quality. But we have been looking forward to taking the next step,” says Dr. Fred Sutton, chief medical officer of Harris Health System.
 
ISO 9001 is the preeminent quality management system used by people-intensive businesses around the world. A growing number of U.S. hospitals are embracing ISO as a way to identify, standardize and then continually improve upon the most successful approaches to patient care, billing and other critical aspects of running a modern hospital.
 
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires accreditation for hospitals seeking reimbursement for care provided to patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Without accreditation, most hospitals would only be able to support a fraction of the patient populations they now serve. CMS maintains a highly rigorous process of assessing and approving accreditation providers, which more than 60 years since the inception of Medicare still numbers fewer than five.
 
DNV’s accreditation program, called NIAHO® (Integrated Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), involves annual hospital surveys – instead of every three years – and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments and to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols.
 
“We want hospitals to succeed and we don’t believe accreditation should be an inspection just looking for faults,” says Yehuda Dror, president of DNV Healthcare. “Our entire approach is founded on innovation. We are certainly thrilled to be chosen by Harris Health System and seeing from the inside how they’ve become one of the leading health systems in the country.”