Maryam Ferdowsi
How does the Golden Seal of the JCI the reputation of a medical center over night?
Today, medical tourism is an independent and ever growing industry with many hospitals around the world joining in through founding their new IPD (International Patient Department) sections.
In any growing and prosperous industry or market, there will always be frauds and rip offs, trying to take advantage of the growing trends. Medical tourism is no exception. But the industry itself will likewise react to this wave of suspicious entrants.
There are now additional accreditation and supervisory organizations being founded to oversee and validate credible medical centers, in order to distinguish them from frauds.
There are several such organizations fulfilling this role in medical tourism, but none have the authority and credibility that Joint Commission International also known as JCI for short, possesses.
JCI is a non-profit accreditation organization and is the most credible and well-known of its kind, to the extent that its role almost makes it a monopoly in accreditation of international medical centers.
The Golden Seal of the JCI is the most credible sign that a medical center active in the medical tourism can acquire. In recent times, this seal has become more known among international patients as well and enables them to choose their destination with greater care and ease.
The role of this commission is increasingly becoming more important, to the point that it might be considered of central importance.
History
JCI was founded in 1951 and began operating on the state level in Illinois. Following a decade of continuous success in that state, the United State Federal Government mandated that any medical center that wants to be part of the Medicare, needs to be approved by the commission; a role that JCI continued to fulfill until 2010.
In 1998 began accreditation on the international level and outside of the United States. This international department is now active in accreditation of medical centers in South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. This international department also has offices in Dubai and Singapore as well.
Evaluation and Screening by the JCI
After careful examination and approval of the medical center by the JCI, and medical center s are accredited for two and three years respectively. After this time period these centers need to be reexamined to extend the accredited.
Most of these examinations take place at a random time and no notices are given beforehand.
JCI Golden Seal Accreditation Requirements
According the commission itself, its goals are the continuous improvement of medical care quality for the public. As such the requirements are continuously updated. This data is transparently placed on the JCI website.
Other than the basic and obvious requirements for a hospital such as exemplary hygiene and the quality of treatment, JCI also pays special attention to the following:
- Your medical center needs to be outside of the United States.
- Conducting medical research by the medical center in the question is a major bonus
- Medical centers that wish to acquire the Golden Seal are required to be operational 24 hours in all 365 days of the year.
- Cooperation with medical universities and contributions to medical education
- The medical center in question needs to have a fully operational ambulance fleet
- Emergency care and acute treatments being available in the medical center
Costs of Acquiring JCI’s Golden Seal
After close and precise evaluations by the experts at JCI, financials need to be sorted in order to receive the accreditation.
The costs of acquiring the Golden Seal are not accurately reflected by the JCI statements. The reason for this is the costs incurred by the adjustments that the JCI often requires of applicants.
JCI requires an “average” of 46 thousand US dollars from its accredited hospitals. This includes 37 thousand dollars for the accreditation itself, with the rest being the average costs of adapting to new JCI policies. Other than this, each three-year evaluation costs an extra 18 thousand dollars. Medical centers often have to spend even more for documentation and lawyers.
Criticism
In a study published by the Harvard, there are a number of criticisms directed at the JCI, the most important of which includes the failure of the JCI to revoke its accreditation from hospitals who fail to comply with the requirements after being accredited.
The study concludes that there is no major difference between medical centers that are accredited by the JCI and those approved by other accreditation companies.
Role of JCI in Medical Tourism and Its Annual Profit
Despite all this, JCI remains as the principal and premier accreditation organization form medical center, and in this respect, the role of the JCI in medical tourism cannot be overstated.
This in part reflected in part by the 147 million dollars that JCI made in 2013, a number that has only grown since then.
Joint Commission International’s monopoly-like role in enforcing credible standards in top tier medical centers has the potential to lead to a homogenization of quality among these medical centers and to create and integrated class of credible and safe hospitals; Leading to a safer environment for all medical tourists
To be accredited by the Joint Commission International brings a medical center a great deal of legitimacy, prestige, and credibility. The Golden Seal of the JCI often becomes the most important part a medical center’s portfolio and has the potential to change the future of any medical center for the better.