Access Health International and SafeCare join forces on transforming the quality of healthcare in India
10th December 2020, Hyderabad: ACCESS Health International (AHI), an India-based organization focused on improving access to high quality and affordable healthcare, has joined hands with SafeCare, a globally renowned company which provides innovative health care standards; surveyor training; a grading system for the quality of care to bring Health Standards to India.
In the last decade, India has made big strides in providing better access to healthcare for its 1 billion-plus citizens. However, the quality of that care remains a key challenge in reaching universal health coverage by 2030, a globally agreed goal of the United Nations.
According to a 2016 Lancet report, poor quality of care leads to almost twice as many deaths as insufficient access to healthcare, 1.6 million deaths compared to 838,000 respectively It is thus crucial to address both these issues.
However, there is a lack of certification and accreditation bodies offering local solutions for emerging markets. How, for example, can a rural clinic in India meet the same requirements as a city hospital, given the differences in resources and training?
As a result of this weak regulatory framework, patients and payers of health care face uncertainty regarding the availability and quality of service. In turn, this hampers health sector investments as patients are not willing to prepay for healthcare through insurance.
Commenting on the association Dr. Krishna Reddy Head Access Health International India said “ We have teamed up with SafeCare, a standards-based, digital quality improvement platform with experience in sub-Saharan Africa, to address this issue. In this international South-South partnership, AHI provides facilities with the IIEA (International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association) accredited standards-based methodology by SafeCare that empowers healthcare providers to measure, monitor, and improve the quality of their services, with the aim to expand nationwide”
“ The SafeCare standards provide an objective, holistic view of medical and non-medical service provision of hospitals and laboratories, transparent and achievable quality improvement goals and a staged motivating and monitoring system. The tools are online and mobile-centric. Health professionals can benefit from interactive, real-time quality management and monitoring platform that aids informed decision-making and hence better health outcomes. It also standardizes the methodology of measurement across healthcare facilities ” said Dr. Aafke de Graaff, Head of SafeCare, Amsterdam
“ Patients know what quality of care to expect at a certain facility, funders have data to assess the medical, financial, and accountability risks when considering long-term investments and insurance companies can see which providers their customers use to give better value for money “ she further added
“ At a policy level, data on quality and risks assist the government in its choices about how to best allocate its scarce resources. In this respect, Access Health International and SafeCare can truly transform the quality landscape in India to create sustainable improvement and provide health for all” Dr. Krishna Reddy Head Access Health International India added
About SafeCare: SafeCare was developed to provide innovative health care standards; surveyor training; a grading system for the quality of care; a quality improvement process that is broken down into achievable, measurable steps to facilitate incremental improvement; and a private sector-supported health financing model. At SafeCare, we believe everyone has the right to access quality healthcare. And we know that healthcare facilities around the world can be inspired to improve the quality and safety of the services they provide, despite the resource constraints they may face.
About Access Healthcare International: ACCESS Health is a think tank, advisory group, and implementation partner. We design and implement health initiatives that tangibly improve health outcomes and the quality of care across the globe. We turn research into tangible healthcare improvements through unique partnerships with policymakers, private sector leaders, academia, and entrepreneurs. We conduct practical research to improve health systems and healthcare delivery and share best practices that can be adopted and adapted worldwide.
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