The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has released its v43 Standards Handbooks for both Ambulatory Accreditation (AMB) and Medicare Deemed Status (MDS) accreditation. These handbooks introduce and integrate into the updated Standard sets 1095 Engage, AAAHC’s new Accreditation Management System (AMS). These newly released handbooks will provide organizations with tools to continue to drive innovation, agility, and excellence in the ambulatory setting, reinforcing AAAHC’s 1095 Strong, quality every day philosophy.
New Standards Architecture Designed with Clients at the Forefront
The implementation of 1095 Engage required Standards revisions and structural changes to enable Standards curation, thereby providing clients with AAAHC Standards specifically tailored to their unique organization. The v43 Standards are organized by Category, grouping similar concepts to facilitate organization compliance, streamline the onsite survey process, and minimize redundancy.
For ease of review and implementation, the handbooks contain a crosswalk identifying changes from the previous version.
Introduction of AMS to Enhance Internal Operations
Further, implementation of the 1095 Engage AMS will empower health care organizations to pursue excellence by providing single-source operations solutions. The full suite of automatic guidance and resources included in the handbooks will enable providers to organize, and update required application/profile documentation throughout their accreditation term.
“This is a particularly significant update to our flagship Standards handbooks and is a result of lots of input from our accredited organizations and the hard work and collaboration of our subject matter experts, committees, surveyors, and staff,” said Noel Adachi, MBA, president and CEO of AAAHC. “The integration of our new Accreditation Management System specifically is a foundational change that will bring measurable value to our accredited organizations.”
In addition to utilizing technological solutions to enhance patient documentation and internal workflows, updates in the v43 handbooks reflect realignment of Standards to minimize redundancies and improve clarity of requirements across AAAHC programs. Designed to facilitate compliance, the v43 handbooks ensure providers have access to the highest quality Standards and resources in the industry.
“The Standards handbooks are comprehensive, but strategically designed to be very actionable for organizations as they evaluate their survey readiness and set quality improvement goals for their organization,” said David Shapiro, MD, Immediate Past Board Chair for AAAHC. “It’s an ideal time to make assessments and embark on quality improvement initiatives in the spirit of the 1095 Strong, quality every day philosophy.”
AAAHC will lead two v43 training webinars on Jan. 9 and 10, to increase awareness and help facilities align their survey preparation and ongoing compliance activities with the newly developed Standards. In the Jan. 9 webinar, our expert faculty will focus on AMB, and the Jan. 10 program will focus on MDS.
For additional information on the latest Standards updates as well as registering for v43 training webinars, please visit https://www.aaahc.org/v43Standards.
