Accreditation of medical organizations will be conducted according to updated standards according to the order of the Minister of Healthcare dated on June 5, 2018, No. 325 “On Amendments and Additions to the Order of the Minister of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated on October 2, 2012 No. 676 “On Approval of Accreditation Standards for Medical Organizations””. From June 25, 2018 accreditation of medical organizations has been suspended until August 20, 2018 due to the need of updating the automated information system of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Quality Management System for Medical Services” (“QMSMS”).
Since the introduction of the national accreditation of medical organizations, this issue of accreditation standards is the third in a row. According to the best world practice and ISQua requirements, it is recommended to revise national accreditation standards every four years. The first issue of accreditation standards for medical organizations was issued in 2009. In 2012, the second edition of accreditation standards came into force, on the basis of which accredited organizations worked until today. The accreditation of medical organizations will be carried out using standards of the third revision within the next four years.
The standards were developed by expert working groups, national experts-practitioners, international experts and representatives of medical organizations. During the period from 2016-2017 pilot testing of these standards was conducted on the basis of medical organizations with their further development.
These accreditation standards are developed taking into account the recommendations of the World Health Organization (hereinafter - WHO), international accreditation standards, the requirements of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (hereinafter - ISQua) and the current regulatory and legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The new standards are distinguished by their detailed and clear statement of requirements, which minimizes the possibility of their misinterpretation. Previously, accreditation standards were uneven in terms of meaning and requirements. So, earlier one standard could contain one criterion, while another standard had from 10 to 15 criteria. In the new standards, the weight of each standard is evenly distributed - each standard has 5 clear measurable criteria. The ranking system is maintained: each criterion of the standard is assigned a rank from I to III, depending on the impact on the patient's safety and the quality of medical care. “QMSMS” automatically calculates the scores entered according to the ranking excluding the human factor in scoring.
The content of the accreditation standards has new requirements from the best practices in the field of corporate governance, HR management, use of medicines, quality management, including the identification and prevention of medical errors, and many other sections. So, for the first time in the regulatory documents of Kazakhstan the term “safety culture”, meaning maintaining a non-punitive situation in the team, in which the patient's safety is placed above professional solidarity, has appeared. Thus, the requirements for the governance of medical organizations are prescribed, which should introduce and maintain a safety culture, encourage the detection of incidents, and take systematic measures to improve work. Also, the updated standards contain WHO recommendations in the field of infection control, control of the use of antibiotics, as well as international patient safety goals.
This order approved accreditation standards for 6 types of medical organizations: outpatient organizations (polyclinics); stationary organizations (hospitals); ambulance services; organizations of rehabilitative treatment; organizations providing palliative and nursing care; blood services. Moreover, according to the initiative of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan on five priority areas for reducing mortality in the Republic of Kazakhstan from stroke, heart attack, oncology, injuries and in field of obstetrics profile standards for those medical organizations that include such services or departments as part of their structure have been developed. Now, within the framework of accreditation standards there are special sections for the abovementioned five core services.
The new accreditation standards introduced by this order have undergone ISQua certification as standards corresponding to the best world practice. In international practice, accreditation of medical organizations is an instrument for improving the quality and safety of patients. From the CIS countries, Kazakhstan is the only country that uses the national accreditation recognized by ISQua in order to standardize and improve the quality of health services. Other CIS countries are interested in Kazakhstan’s experience and have been initiated cooperation with Kazakhstan to exchange best practices in the field of accreditation.
The third issue of accreditation standards for medical organizations is available on the website of the Electronic standard control bank of regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the link.