Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of accreditation programs on Brazilian healthcare organizations.
Design: A web-based questionnaire survey was undertaken between February and May 2016.
Setting: Healthcare organizations from the Federal District and from 18 Brazilian states.
Participants: The quality managers of 141 Brazilian healthcare organizations were the main respondents of the study.
Intervention: The questionnaire was applied to not accredited and accredited organizations.
Main outcome measures: The main outcome measures were patient safety activities, quality management activities, planning activities-policies and strategies, patient involvement, involvement of professionals in the quality programs, monitoring of patient safety goals, organizational impact and financial impacts.
Results: The study identified 13 organizational impacts of accreditation. There was evidence of a significant and moderate correlation between the status of accreditation and patient safety activities, quality management activities, planning activities-policies and strategies, and involvement of professionals in the quality programs. The correlation between accreditation status and patient involvement was significant but weak, suggesting that this issue should be treated with a specific policy. The impact of accreditation on the financial results was not confirmed as relevant; however, the need for investment in the planning stage was validated.
Conclusions: The impact of accreditation is mainly related to internal processes, culture, training, institutional image and competitive differentiation.
Keywords: Quality improvement; certification/accreditation; patient safety; surveys.
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