The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun formal evaluation of an application filed by TÜV Healthcare Specialists to become the first new accreditation service for U.S. hospitals in 40 years. If granted the accreditation, TÜV will not only accredit hospitals in regard to Medicare’s Conditions of Participation, but will introduce ISO 9001 to the health care industry in an effort to reverse declining quality indicators there. TÜV estimates that inefficiency and mistakes in the health care industry cost each American $1,200 to $2,500 every year, and prescription errors result in 25,000 deaths annually.

“Choice and competition are the hallmarks of a free market,” says Rebecca Wise, TÜVHS CEO. “Can you think of an industry with a more profound impact on our lives than health care? Yet there is a much higher chance of you getting the wrong dosage of medicine in a hospital than there is of a manufacturer putting the wrong chip on a circuit board. It’s a failure of the system, not the people.”

Authority for hospital accreditation was given to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in 1965. Today, the JCAHO accredits the vast majority of U.S. hospitals.

For more information, visit www.tuvhs.com.

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