2019 - Health Service Accreditation Stimulating Change in Clinical Care and Human Resource Management Processes A Study of 311 Australian Hospitals
2019 - Health Service Accreditation Stimulating Change in Clinical Care and Human Resource Management Processes A Study of 311 Australian Hospitals
2019 - Health Service Accreditation Stimulating Change in Clinical Care and Human Resource Management Processes A Study of 311 Australian Hospitals
Article:
Greenfield, D., Lawrence, S.A., Kellner, A. et al. (2 more authors) (2019) Health service
accreditation stimulating change in clinical care and human resource management
processes : a study of 311 Australian hospitals. Health Policy, 123 (7). pp. 661-665. ISSN
0168-8510
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.04.006
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Health service accreditation stimulating change in
clinical care and human resource management
processes: a study of 311 Australian hospitals
Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to establish whether longitudinal participation in an accreditation
program is translated into improvement in continuity of quality patient care and human
Materials and methods: This was a secondary data analysis of accreditation panel data from
and Quality Improvement Program (EQuIP). EQuIP criteria data from 311 hospitals were
collected by external surveyors across 2003-2006 (Time 1) and 2007-2010 (Time 2).
Analysis was undertaken of ratings across continuity of quality patient care and HRM process
Results: Continuity of quality patient care and HRM processes improved across time in the
three performance groups. Lower performing hospitals improved at a greater rate than
moderate and higher performing hospitals. The groupings and performance order did not
1
1. Introduction
External healthcare regulation bodies, such as Accreditation Canada, The Australian
Ministries, for example, the Lebanese Ministry of Health, implement accreditation programs
and care processes and subsystems [1, 2]. The perceived high cost and time investment
some stakeholders continually question the contribution they make to improving care
outcomes and organisational functioning [3-7]. Nevertheless, there is sufficient evidence that
driver to improve the safety, quality and effectiveness of organisational and clinical processes
[8-11].
resource management (HRM) systems [12, 15] or organisational care processes [3, 11].
points of concern for stakeholders, including policy makers and governments [3, 10, 16, 17].
was shown to stimulate and maintain organisational improvements in quality measures within
that the effective functioning of an organisation’s HRM system can be enhanced through
participation in an accreditation cycle; the caveat being that the motivation for excellence is
internal so that the accreditation program reinforces, rather than drives, performance
2
improvements [15]. Whether improvements are maintained across cycles, or are realised in
or process outcomes have normally been examined at single points in time. We have limited
organisational performance outcomes. One case study that has taken a longitudinal focus
demonstrated that one hospital, in a developing country, did sustain improvements across the
accreditation program cycle [3]. Further investigations are necessary to reveal if this finding
holds for other organisations, in both developing and developed countries. This is an issue
A key question concerning many stakeholders is: does the quality improvement
performance improve, stall or decrease? Furthermore, for organisations with different levels
improvement longitudinally? The unique contribution of this study was to investigate these
issues through focusing upon continuity of quality patient care and HRM processes. This
translated into improvement in continuity of quality patient care and HRM processes
outcomes.
2. Method
3
The study focused on the ACHS accreditation program, the Evaluation and Quality
Improvement Program (EQuIP), implemented in Australia [18]. At the time of the study,
accreditation of acute and sub-acute care organisations was a policy endorsed by State
Governments and the ACHS program accredited facilities from all States and Territories
across Australia. ACHS was the major accreditation agency for acute and sub-acute care
organisations, with over 1300 facilities accredited, representing over 90% market share [19].
ACHS has been facilitating an accreditation program for 40 years, commencing in 1974;
organisations now have participated in several accreditation cycles, including under EQuIP
[20].
ACHS uses the approach of responsive regulation [21]. That is, engaging with
industry representatives to develop, implement and revise EQuIP; the development process is
the safety and quality knowledge base. The adjustments from editions three to four were to
increase the focus on consumer participation and the need for evidence of clinical and
improvement, operates on a four-year cycle and is divided into three broad assessment
categories: clinical, support and corporate criteria [19]. Across these categories there are 13
breakdown is as follows: clinical category, six standards and 21 criteria - seven mandatory,
non-mandatory; and, corporate category, two standards and 10 criteria - four mandatory, six
improvement strategies, are rated against a five-point scale (Little Achievement, Some
4
Achievement). Ratings of at least Moderate Achievement against the mandatory criteria are
improve their performance against the accreditation standards. This includes focusing on both
organisational and clinical systems and processes [11,14]. An organisation assesses itself
against the EQuiP Standards and produces a self-assessment report for the AHCS. This report
is reviewed by an external peer-survey team which also conducts an on-site visit to verify the
improvement claims, documentation and care practices. The survey team provides a written
report back to ACHS, which can include recommendations for further improvement and the
granting of accreditation status. Within this four year period, usually at mid-point or
corroborate the continued achievement of the safety and quality standards, implementation of
External peer-surveyors, employed by ACHS, visited and rated hospitals against the
EQuIP standards criteria across two accreditation periods. As per the ACHS accreditation
programs normal practice, different survey teams visited each hospital in each period. Where
possible at least one member of the survey team was retained for the subsequent visit.
Previous research into the accrediting agency’s surveyor program has demonstrated the
strategies and processes that promote reliability [24]. This includes the requirement that
interpretation directions associated with the program standards and assessing practices.
Nevertheless, in an attempt to account for variations in individual surveyor and survey team
5
assessments the study population of hospitals were classified into one of three mandatory
The first assessment period was between 2003-6, and used EQuIP3 (Time 1) and the
second was between 2007-10, and used EQuIP4 (Time 2). The EQuIP standards are rated on
a five-point scale, from ‘1’ indicating low achievement, ‘3’ corresponding to moderate
participants were that they were accredited through the ACHS accreditation program, from
the public or private acute hospital sector, for both time periods. The study used participating
organisations’ EQuIP mandatory standards criteria outcomes as secondary panel data for
analysis.
Following the processes established by Townsend et al (2013) the study measures and
analysis processes were implemented [1, 2]. First, three hospital specific details were used as
(state/territory regions were binary coded 0 = hospital not in this geographic region, 1 =
hospital in this geographical region); and hospital size (1 = 1-49 beds, 2 = 50-99 beds, 3 =
performance groups: below moderate (1), moderate (2) and above moderate (3). The
score, for each hospital at Time 1; this is the first assessment for each hospital and different
6
Finally, two further measures were derived from the accreditation data: an HRM
processes score and a continuity of quality of patient care score, which were composites of
five and six items, respectively. Organisational means for each score were calculated by
transforming the EQuIP standards ratings from their five-point word scale into a numerical
scale, that is, for example, from low achievement to ‘1’, moderate achievement to ‘3’, and,
outstanding achievement to ‘5’. A unit-weighted mean composite score for each was then
developed [2]. The HRM processes score combined five accreditation criteria items: HRM
and, support services. The continuity of quality of patient care score, reflecting the hospital’s
provision of a seamless process of quality patient care, was constructed using six items:
prioritised access to care according to clinical need; assessment identifies current and
ongoing need; consumer/patient are fully informed and provide consent; best possible care is
planned and delivered in partnership with consumer/patient; care is evaluated together with
Additionally, as construct and reliability analysis for the two measures had not
(2013) and based on established processes was undertaken [1]. ANCOVA repeated-measures
were conducted. Time was entered as the within-group variable, mandatory accreditation
procedure was used to guard against Type 1 errors [25]. The study focus was on the
7
3. Results
There was a population of 311 hospitals who participated in the accreditation process
across both cycles, Time 1 and Time 2. The population included organisations from all
Australian States and Territories and was nearly evenly split between the public (53%) and
private (47%) sectors. The distribution of hospitals across the size categories was as follows:
23% (1), 25% (2), 25% (3), 20% (4) and 7% (5). The distribution of values across these
demographic variables is representative of those of the ACHS hospital population at that time
(N = 483).
The results for HRM processes score at Time 1 and Time 2 were: T1 - Mean = 2.92,
SD = .29, Cronbach’s alpha = .77; and T2 - Mean = 3.10, SD = .26, Cronbach’s alpha = .70.
Similarly, the continuity of quality patient care score at Time 1 and Time 2 were: T1 - Mean
= 3.00, SD = .25, Cronbach’s alpha = .76; and T2 - Mean = 3.17, SD = .25, Cronbach’s alpha
= .73.
These results indicate acceptable measures of internal consistency for both the HRM
processes and continuity of patient care scores, that is, the findings demonstrate that the two
composite scores are reliable measures. For reasons of parsimony, only the results for
statistically significant interactions of interest are illustrated in Table 1. All other interaction
---------------------------------
----------------------------------
8
After controlling for variance in the dependent variable accounted for by sector, geographical
region and size, the test of within-subjects effects revealed a significant interaction of
mandatory accreditation performance groups and time (T1 to T2) on the Continuity of
quality patient care (F (2, 302) = 20.755, p < .001; partial eta squared = .12) (Table 1).
Analysis revealed significant simple effects for all three mandatory accreditation
performance groups: group 1 - below moderate (F (1, 302) = 110.483, p < .001; partial eta
squared = .268); group 2 - moderate (F (1, 302) = 30.814, p < .001; partial eta squared =
.093); and group 3 - above moderate (F (1, 302) = 7.805, p < .01; partial eta squared = .025)
(Figure 1).
interaction of mandatory accreditation performance groups and time (T1 to T2) on HRM
processes (F (2, 32) = 18.77, p < .001; partial eta squared = .11). Analysis revealed
significant simple effects for all three mandatory accreditation performance groups: group 1
- below moderate (F (1, 302) = 101.073, p < .001; partial eta squared = .251); group 2 -
moderate (F (1, 302) = 21.206, p < .001; partial eta squared = .066); and group 3 – above
moderate (F (1, 302) = 9.250, p < .01; partial eta squared = .030) (Figure 2).
The tests of within-subjects effects account for the individual differences within each
organisations’ level of performance. Hence, the results, for both continuity of quality patient
care and HRM processes scores, indicate significant changes, or improvements, for these
---------------------------------
----------------------------------
9
In sum, the continuity of quality patient care and HRM processes scores significantly
improved over time for all three of the mandatory accreditation performance groups.
relative strength of improvement over time: improvement was greatest for those organisations
in the below moderate group, less so for the moderate group and slightly further reduced for
4. Discussion
be clearly identified in all three groups, across two accreditation survey cycles.
Organisational performance, on these criteria at least, did not stall or decrease, but clearly
demonstrating the lowest performance against the standards, relative to their peers, were
shown to improve at greater rates. The improvement rates of the middle group also exceeded
that of the top group. Additionally, the performance gap between the three groups narrowed
significantly across the two cycles, albeit differently for the two outcomes examined. Both
However, just as significantly, the performance order of the three groups did not alter across
the two cycles. That is, the higher performing organisations at Time 1 remained the top group
at Time 2, and, similarly, the middle and bottom groups at Time 1 occupied the same
10
positions at Time 2. Furthermore, across different standards criteria the rates of improvement
for the different groups of organisations mirrored each other. That is, for example, the rate
change for the lowest group for both items investigated is nearly identical. This suggests that
an organisation’s improvement from one cycle to the next might be the same for across all
standard criteria.
Taking a ‘big picture’ view of the study and considering the three groups collectively,
enables us to see quality and safety of the acute care sector, as measured by performance
against the accreditation standards, improved over the two cycles. Participation in the
and continual process improvements. This is one piece of evidence that validates claims to
The findings are consistent with research that has highlighted the potential for
systems within hospitals [26, 27]. The knowledge base recording the positive impact of
accreditation programs continues to grow. Studies across developed and developing country
settings, and over time, have demonstrated that participation in an accreditation program:
maintained and stimulated improvements in quality measures across cycles [3]; enhanced
improvement action [28]; and, stimulated quality-related policy and strategic planning [29].
As a result two important impacts are identified. First, individual organisations and the health
system they are embedded within accrue system efficiency improvements through
participation in an accreditation program. Second, patient care quality systems, processes and
measures improve from accreditation assessments. Therefore, a key policy question is: should
11
This longitudinal study is an important contribution to strengthening the accreditation
evidence base for programs, and methodologically this marks it out as different from much of
the previous work. Future research investigating other accreditation programs or clinical
performance measures will be useful to determine if similar results are realised. Additionally,
this work can be extended through studies examining an accreditation program with data
from three, or more, cycles thereby allowing for the use of random coefficient modelling to
The data used in the study came from all organisations within the AHCS program,
and as this cohort represents the overwhelming majority of hospitals in Australia, there was
no selection bias. Similarly, as all organisations were subject to the same national policy
context and developments across the study period, any impacts are assumed to be consistent
for the cohort. However, we do acknowledge the possible impact of a differential effect based
on earlier performance. That is, the higher performing organisations faced a ceiling to their
possible improvement based on their previous scores. While this effect is present, what the
findings show is that all organisations continued to improve while remaining consistently
placed relative to each other’s performance. The top performing hospitals remained the in the
top sub-cohort and the others similarly placed in relation to them; organisations did not
change groupings across the sub-cohorts. Hence the effect, while present, does not negate the
5. Conclusion
ongoing compliance with and performance improvement against external standards. This is
one further piece of evidence that accreditation programs, in developing and developed
12
settings, are an important external driver to improve the safety, quality and effectiveness of
programs have a multifarious and interwoven impact across the systems and processes of
organisations.
13
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15
Tables and Figures
Table 1
Repeated measures analysis of covariance results for dependent variables
Between-subjects effects
Mandatory accreditation
2.773 42.927*** .221 2.615 47.873*** .241 2, 302
performance groups
Note: Analyses are controlling for hospital sector, geographical region and size. ***p <.001
16
Figure 1
Simple slope effects for Continuity of quality patient care
17
Figure 2
Simple slope effects for HRM processes
18