New quality criteria introduced for hospital classification

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched new indicators for classifying the categories of all hospitals.

Private hospitals are usually classified into four categories according to the accreditation system, which is implemented in most developed countries. This system includes 4,000 criteria that aim to control the quality of services offered by hospitals.

The new indicators that will classify the hospitals are the ‘case-mix’, which means the kind of medical cases received by the hospital. The cases should be diverse and require admission.
Another criterion for classifying hospitals is patient satisfaction. MoPH will assign a specialized company to ask patients about the quality of services offered by the hospital and the medical staff.

Sleiman Haroun, Chairman of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, said: “According to the new decision, the accreditation system will not be the sole criteria for classifying the category of hospitals.” The percentage of the accreditation criterion for classifying the hospital will be reduced by 40 percent.

MoPH assigns a committee to supervise physicians and interns, the administration and medical equipment and its maintenance.

The party classifying the hospital will be looking also for the financial offers provided by the hospital. Reducing the patient bills or raising it decreases the category of the hospital.

They will also be looking for the number of surgical cases versus the medical cases, as well as the percentage of patients that admit the intensive care.

Haroun said that this initiative would be a good step, if implemented transparently and hospitals apply these criteria.

“The classification of the hospitals will not differ greatly, if they implement the new criteria. The difference will not exceed ten percent,” said Haroun.