Healthcare Standards

The government is working on a national framework to assess and grade public and private hospitals on healthcare quality, patient safety and clinical outcomes, with the system expected to follow international benchmarks. The initiative, being developed with the involvement of NITI Aayog, is aimed at giving patients access to clearer information when choosing healthcare providers while encouraging hospitals to improve standards of care. Officials indicated that the framework could be finalised by the end of this year, with hospital grading potentially beginning in the next financial year. NITI Aayog recently held a stakeholder consultation led by its member M Srinivas to discuss the proposed framework. The discussions focused on creating a credible and sustainable system centred on patient safety, quality of care, clinical outcomes and patient experience across different categories of hospitals. The proposed indicators could include patient-reported outcomes and experiences, hospital readmission rates and medication errors. Specialty-specific measures may also be considered, including post-transplant survival rates and postoperative mortality associated with oncology procedures. Healthcare experts said a standardised grading system could help patients make more informed decisions while allowing hospitals with stronger clinical outcomes and quality systems to distinguish themselves. It could also provide insurers and other healthcare payers with more objective data for designing outcome- and quality-linked products. At present, private hospitals can seek accreditation under the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), which sets standards for patient safety and clinical quality. However, detailed quality and outcome data are not routinely available to the public. The proposed framework could address this information gap by making hospital performance more transparent. Similar systems are already used in countries such as the UK, where the National Health Service publishes and audits various clinical quality and outcome indicators. The government also expects greater transparency and internationally benchmarked quality standards to strengthen India’s healthcare ecosystem and potentially support the country’s medical tourism ambitions. Source: Economic Times