Accreditation Partnership Seeks to Strengthen Medical Travel Services in India

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Oct 01, 2020, 08:00 ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program for Medical Travel Services (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/) and the Quality & Accreditation Institute (QAI) (http://www.qai.org.in/), have announced the formal launch of a joint accreditation program for hospitals and clinics in India serving medical travel patients. The goal of the partnership is to leverage each organization's strengths to better serve healthcare providers in India seeking to enhance medical traveler patient experience and business performance.

GHA and QAI will work with clinically accredited hospitals in India as a prerequisite to offering Global Healthcare Accreditation for Medical Travel Services in the region. The accreditation may be from a recognized national or international accreditation body, such as QAI and JCI. The GHA accreditation survey will include a surveyor from each organization using the GHA standards. QAI will also serve as GHA's local partner in India, conducting joint training, workshops and advisory services and providing information about GHA accreditation and related programs, which have been developed to build patient trust in hospitals serving international medical tourism patients.

One of these programs is the Certification of Conformance (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/certification-of-conformance-with-gha-covid-19-guidelines-for-medical-travel-programs) with GHA's COVID-19 Guidelines for Medical Travel Programs (https://www.globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/gha-covid-19-guidelines) which were issued this past July. The Certification of Conformance is for hospitals and ambulatory centers that wish to validate compliance against the Guidelines as a strategy to build patient confidence in their medical travel program during these challenging times and as travel restrictions begin to lift.

According to Ms. Karen Timmons, GHA's Chief Executive Officer, "Healthcare providers desiring to provide an optimal medical travel experience must develop new competencies and ensure their services and protocols are aligned with the needs of medical travel patients and buyers of healthcare services as we move to a 'new normal.' We are pleased to collaborate with QAI in support of the medical travel patient and we applaud its commitment to provide healthcare providers in India with solutions that prioritize the patient experience for medical travelers. Hospitals participating in GHA accreditation shall also benefit with additional visibility through GHA distribution channels, and QAI will also provide additional visibility to GHA accredited hospitals through its distribution channels."

Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Rana, Chief Executive Officer of QAI, stated, "There are tremendous potential and opportunities for Indian hospital and clinics to attract patients from overseas both from developing and developed countries simply because they offer clinical care at par with best of the hospitals globally yet cost effective. GHA accreditation programme will support hospitals involved in medical travel to further confidence of patients as these standards provide a framework of full circle (of end to end care continuum) covering clinical, administrative and logistical aspects. We are excited about this partnership with GHA to extend benefits of global accreditation standards for medical travel services to Indian hospitals and their international patients. Such patients will not only enjoy best treatment but also get opportunity to treat themselves with rich heritage, diversity and great tourism opportunities of Indian States."

About the Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program:

Founded in 2016, the Global Healthcare Accreditation for Medical Travel Services is the only accrediting body focused solely on medical travel services. GHA's international standards and professional norms for medical travel were developed in consultation with leading global experts in the industry, including providers, insurers and employers committed to establish best practices in medical tourism and health tourism, which support healthcare providers in validating quality and patient experience, increasing visibility, and implementing a sustainable business model for providers along the entire medical travel care continuum. GHA received ISQua's International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (IEEA) accreditation in 2019.Visit: https://globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/. Reach us via email at [email protected] or call +1 561 228 4014.

About the Quality and Accreditation Institute (QAI):

QAI was set up to create an ecosystem of education, training, quality improvement and accreditation. We believe that this organisation would provide a platform to stakeholders including professionals and organisations, associated with quality in any way, to share their wisdom and knowledge in order to make its Vision realised. QAI over the past three years have developed eight sets of accreditation standards. Many of these standards are first of its kind in India. QAI received ISQua's International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (IEEA) accreditation in 2019 for Dialysis standards and in 2020 for Home Healthcare standards. Through IEEA accreditation for two sets of standards, QAI becomes the first and only accreditation body in India to achieve such recognition. Visit: www.qai.org.in

SOURCE Global Healthcare Accreditation