Proposed Revisions to AAAHC Accreditation Standards Released for Public Comment

WILMETTE Ill. -- The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has released recommendations for revising its standards for 2006. The standards describe characteristics that the AAAHC believes to be indicative of an accreditable ambulatory healthcare organization and against which organizations are measured when they seek AAAHC accreditation. The AAAHC accredits a variety of ambulatory healthcare organizations, including ambulatory surgery centers, office-based surgery centers, endoscopy centers, college student health centers, and large medical and dental groups.

Interested parties, such as AAAHC accredited organizations, surveyors, member organizations, medical specialty groups, regulatory agencies and the public at large, have until Oct. 24, 2005 to review and provide comments on the proposed revisions.

Highlights of the proposed changes to the AAAHC standards include:

• Sub-elements of existing standards in Chapter 4: Quality of Care, Chapter 8:

Environment of Care, and Chapter 15: Pharmaceutical Services, have been raised to full standards to emphasize their significance.

• In Chapter 9: Anesthesia Services, a note was added to reflect concern for the safe administration of drugs that do not have an antagonist medication.

• In Chapter 10: Surgical Services, a note was added to recognize care settings where standards may not apply if the nature of the procedures performed do not require anesthesia, or require only local or topical anesthesia.

Source: AAAHC