What It Takes To Get UHMS Accreditation

By Janine Hughes


Every new of the freestanding hyperbaric clinic has one primary goal; this is to be Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) accredited. It is not very easy as it requires heavy investment in quality medical equipment and quality staff. However, it has benefits that can completely transform the future of the hospital, putting it in a new level of playing field. It is the way to attract referrals from medical practitioners and to assure the regulators and the insurers that you meet the highest standards in the health care practice. The UHMS accreditation is not imposed on any medical facility, it is a voluntary program that offers a guarantee to other parties that the hyperbaric oxygen therapy provided in the clinic meets the rigorous industry standards, the clinic practice evidence based medicine, and that the facility provides high patient satisfaction with high ratings.

In order to be accredited, the medical facility's wound care team will have to provide data that detail the quality of the hyperbaric medicine, policies and procedures, safety and the patient outcomes to the team send by the UHMS to the facility. The team sent will also have to examine the staffing and training process and conduct an insight survey to examine other facilities available like the equipment, the operation and maintenance program, the standard of care and the patient safety procedures among others.

In order to ascertain this, the health care facility has to be surveyed by a team from the UHMS. In addition to above data, they have to gather data on training processes, the equipment operation and maintenance, and the safety standards in place.

Good consultants should provide insight into the scope, time, and the resources necessary for the center to improve from its current status to the level that meets the survey requirements.

A third party consultant also comes with several other benefits. The consultant comes up with a detailed report stating the tasks and timing for the same. In addition to this, the report gives the relationship between one task to the other, and which should come first and second. As such, a clear picture of what is to be done, and the resources required for the same are clear for the party. The consultant may also offer assistance in performing some of the tasks.

Normally, the team from the UHMS conducts a survey in very wide areas within the facility. The areas of focus include fire protection, ventilation, fabrication, and the electrical installation of the chamber. For the patients, the issues to be examined include the patient rights, care, assessment, and education. In addition to this, the human resource, leadership, professional development, teaching, research and publication, information management, medical gas system, and environmental sustenance are also surveyed.

If a facility is UHMS accredited, then this is a proof that it has been examined by a third party that is non-biased and has been found to be at par with the hospital environmental standards. In addition to this, it is a statement that the medical facility is run by a very competent medical team managing health providers that meet the required qualification. It is the best assurance the regulators and the insurance companies can get certified that the facility offers quality patient care and with high standards of safety.

This in essence means more referrals to the facility as physicians are confident with the quality of health provision from this institution. The insurers will also be willing to reimburse the clinic that is accredited and more qualified health providers get attracted by the hospital. It translates to higher income.




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