PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program for Medical Travel Services (https://globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/) recently announced the release of GHA Standards 4.1 for hospitals and ambulatory medical centers with medical travel programs.
The new standards were developed over the past year, following the conduct of a formal field review with input from clients, surveyors, insurers, employers and other experts. According to Dr. Paul van Ostenberg, Chairman of the GHA Standards Committee, "The latest version of the standards is even more closely aligned with the needs of traveling patients and the organizations who care for them and includes improvements that will benefit both clients and surveyors during the accreditation onsite visit. For example, each standard now has an explanatory intent statement, measurable elements of each standard were improved to make scoring more objective and transparent, and a list of recommended documents were included at the end of each standards chapter that facilitate a healthcare provider's preparation for the accreditation survey as well as make the process more efficient for the GHA surveyor."
"GHA's goal is to share professional norms for medical travel and establish, through consensus, best practices for organizations serving medical travel patients. The GHA standards development process is designed to include input from a broad range of stakeholders, ensuring GHA standards reduce risk to patients as well as facilitate success to organizations who care for the traveling patient." says Ms. Karen Timmons, GHA's Chief Executive Officer.
The Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program was established in 2016 with the goal of enhancing the patient experience for medical travelers across the entire Medical Travel Care Continuum. According to Ms. Timmons, "Medical travel is very complex and encompasses both pre-admission and post discharge components across the entire Medical Travel Care Continuum. GHA standards are the foundation of a systematic and objective evaluation process of an organization's unique approach to the management of medical travel services. Each standard is part of a comprehensive framework that facilitates meaningful management and quantifiable performance regarding medical travel in order for organizations to improve over time and be successful. We are excited about GHA Standards 4.1 and confident that they will provide increased value to the medical travel patient and the healthcare providers we serve."
Organizations interested in learning more about the GHA Standards 4.1 can email info@GHACCREDITATION.COM or download a 4.1 Standards Brief here.
The official press release can be found here.
*Medical travel is also commonly known as medical tourism or health tourism.
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