The scene of the awarding ceremony
Shenzhen News Network, June 5, 2024 (Reporter Liu Mengting, Correspondent Shen Weixin) The Chinese version of the "International Hospital Evaluation and Accreditation Standards" has borne fruit, and the first batch of 3 hospitals have passed the certification. On June 5, the International Hospital Evaluation and Accreditation Award Ceremony was held in Qianhai, Shenzhen, and three hospitals, Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, and University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, were awarded licenses and became "International Hospital Evaluation and Accreditation Standards (China)" certified hospitals, announcing that the standard had taken the first step of "landing".
At the meeting, the book "International Hospital Accreditation Standards (China)" was also officially published. Next, the Hainan Provincial Health Commission plans to fully promote the participation of public hospitals and some private hospitals in Hainan Province in the certification of the standard.
Wu Xiaojia, Second-level Inspector of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, Zhang Yuhui, Deputy Director of the Hainan Provincial Health Commission, Zhu Wu, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, Lo Chung-mao, Secretary for Health of Hong Kong, Ko Pak-chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, Wu Hongyan, Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission, Liang Ke, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Qianhai Cooperation Zone, Liu Zexing, Dean of the Li Ka Shing Medical College of the University of Hong Kong, and Li Mengfeng, President of Southern Medical University, attended the certification ceremony and press conference.
The scene of the ceremony
"Top 3 + International" standard
The Chinese version of the "International Hospital Accreditation Standards" comes from Shenzhen
In China, the "top three" hospital is a golden sign in the eyes of the people.
But when going abroad, the "top three" standard is not popular. In the past, Chinese hospitals could only participate in international accreditations such as JCI in the United States and ACHS in Australia to seek global recognition.
China has the world's largest hospital system, can it come up with its own "international hospital accreditation standards"? The central government handed over this mission to Shenzhen.
In 2020, the central government issued the "Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Reform Pilot of Shenzhen's Construction of a Pilot Demonstration Zone of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics", which clearly supports Shenzhen in exploring the establishment of a hospital evaluation and accreditation standard system in line with international standards.
Prior to this, the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, a pioneer in the reform of public hospitals in the mainland and the medical cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, has already carried out pioneering exploration. Within 5 years of its opening, the hospital has successively passed the international and tertiary "double accreditation", that is, the international accreditation of ACHS (Australian Council on Health Care Standards) in 2015 and the "tertiary first" review in 2017.
The experts of the hospital found that the "top three" standards are more detailed and strict than international standards in terms of medical quality and safety requirements, and can be fully integrated into some foreign excellent practices to achieve "internationalization".
Based on the experience of the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital, the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission commissioned the hospital to take the lead in establishing a non-profit third-party evaluation and evaluation research center, the Shenzhen Health Hospital Evaluation and Evaluation Research Center.
The center has absorbed senior experts with international hospital accreditation and domestic "top three" accreditation qualifications, and in accordance with the principle of "standards only rise, not decrease, and content only increases, not decreases", the "top three" standards are integrated with international standards, and the "International Hospital Accreditation Standards (China)" (2021 edition) has been compiled.
In February 2022, the standard was certified by the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua EEA) with a score rate of 97%, becoming the first internationally accredited hospital accreditation standard in China.
Xu Xiaoping, Evaluation and Evaluation Research Center of Shenzhen Health Hospital, introduced that the standard system is not only an upgrade of the mainland's "top three" standards, but also a fusion of international standards. The center has set up an expert group for the training and development of assessors, and has held five assessor trainings, and 111 senior experts in the evaluation and certification of domestic and foreign hospitals have passed the assessment, including 71 from the mainland and 40 from Hong Kong and Macao.
3 hospitals take the lead in "crossing the line"
International business insurance customers can be directly "reimbursed" for medical visits
After the standard was announced, it was quickly responded to by hospitals across the country.
On March 30, 2023, the first batch of hospital accreditation and certification kick-off meeting was held in Qianhai, Shenzhen. Thirteen hospitals, including the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, and the Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, began to participate in the first batch of certification, of which 5 were from Shenzhen, 4 were from Hong Kong, 2 were from Guangzhou, and 1 each was from Beijing and Zhuhai.
During the evaluation process, the reviewer will judge each section of the standard and give the evaluation results according to the conditions met by the hospital. Each evaluation is divided into 6 grades: excellent, good, satisfactory, partially satisfactory, unsatisfactory and not applicable. There are three types of certification conclusions: passing the certification, passing the certification conditionally (delaying the decision), and not passing the certification.
In the end, three hospitals, Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, and University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, won the first place and passed the certification. The certification is valid for four years, meaning it is "reviewed" every four years, emphasizing continuous improvement.
Assessor Chen Hong said that the main purpose of the certification service is to promote the quality of medical care, patient safety and continuous improvement of medical institutions, so as to ensure the safety of staff, patients and other visitors in medical institutions. Hospitals that have been certified by this standard certification prove that the hospital's medical quality and patient safety have been internationally recognized.
For these three hospitals, it will be more convenient to conduct business exchanges with overseas medical institutions in the future, and the most "immediate" benefit is that they can be recognized by international commercial insurance institutions, and customers who have purchased international insurance can directly "brush commercial medical insurance" in the hospital to see a doctor.
The certification standard has been supported by four commercial insurance companies: Prudential Investment & Credit Insurance Company, AIA Group Limited, Wanxinhe (Shanghai) Corporate Services Co., Ltd., and AXA Group.
Sun Jianle, director of health and medical care at Wan Xinhe (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co., Ltd., an international health insurance service provider, said that previously, the international mainstream hospital certification system mainly included JCI in the United States and ACHS in Australia, but the vast majority of hospitals in the mainland did not obtain these certifications, resulting in confusion for Hong Kong and Macao residents who purchased international commercial insurance when choosing medical treatment in the mainland. The International Hospital Accreditation Standards (China) (2021 Edition) is like a "key" to solve this problem. After the hospital is accredited, it means that it has reached the internationally recognized standards and quality level, which is an important basis for patients who seek medical treatment across borders.
The International Hospital Accreditation Standards (China) was officially published
The second batch of accredited hospitals are "ready to fly"
Hainan plans to "participate in the whole province"
As of June 2024, the Shenzhen Health Hospital Evaluation and Evaluation Research Center has completed a total of 11 accreditation counseling sessions for 6 hospitals and formal evaluation for 3 hospitals. The center has also launched an online platform, where hospitals can apply online and the whole process will be processed online.
At present, the second batch of participating hospitals have also started the certification work, including the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical College, Guangdong Qifu Hospital, Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University, Shunde Hospital of Southern Medical University, etc.
The Hainan Provincial Health Commission plans to draw on the participation model of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and sign a cooperation framework agreement with the Shenzhen Health Hospital Evaluation and Evaluation Research Center to comprehensively promote the participation of public hospitals and some private hospitals in Hainan Province in the certification of the "Chinese version" of international standards. In addition, provincial hospitals in Zhejiang, Guangdong and other provinces are also "eager to try".
At the event on June 5, the book "International Hospital Accreditation Standards (China)" (2021 Edition) was also officially published. The book is published by the People's Medical Publishing House, and is divided into three chapters, 16 sections, 61 articles, and 186 paragraphs, including hospital functions and tasks, patient safety, medical services and medical quality, and hospital management.
Lv Jian, deputy editor-in-chief of the South China Branch of the People's Medical Publishing House, said that the implementation of the standard represents that China has formed a set of hospital standards with China's imprint in the international community from "implementing standards" to "formulating standards", and it also means that China's hospital accreditation and certification has obtained a "passport" to the world, and will become a "communicator" of China's medical soft power and enhance China's influence in global governance. Source: Shenzhen News Network