Beginning the Process…..

Your guide to personalizing the accreditation process for your company and organization begins here. No matter the size of your organization, if you are in the durable medical equipment industry you and your company can benefit from the accreditation process and its positive consequences. Accreditation is just the beginning. Continuation of the improvement activities, review of best practices and management of your quality system is what will take your company to new levels of care and commitment. Accreditation is the train; you are the engineer laying the track for dedicated business improvements for your company.

Wading through the process is usually the largest barrier to getting started. The fact that you are reading these pages indicates that you are willing to begin and take the first step to implement your company’s future success plan. HQAA is dedicated and committed to listening to you the customer, and to making continuous improvements in keeping this process user-friendly, clearly understandable, technology driven and most of all to create long-lasting benefit to your company and in turn, the DME industry.

Creating a positive mindset about the accreditation process is critical to overall success. When best practices and areas in need of improvement are objectively reviewed, there will be challenges. Staying focused on the quality of the journey will prepare business leaders and their staff with a foundation to continuously build upon. The quality commitment will benefit the organization, the employees and most importantly the customers in which you serve.

Focal points for beginning the process:

• Develop a perception of your organization as if you are on the outside looking in. You will see an administrative component and your specific business specialty, specifically DME. Visualize the two components and how they merge together to form your organization. What would you say are the strengths that are present? What are the areas that need to be improved?
• Make determination whose primary responsibility it will be to champion the accreditation process. Who will ultimately be responsible? How will the process be coordinated with other individuals? The team approach will have far more benefits than the actual destination of the accreditation approval. Creating discipline within the process will highlight strengths within the company that can serve as a strong foundation for growth and improvement.
• Determine how all employees can become a part of and continually aware of the process. Communication and consistency in this area will assist in ensuring inclusion of all.
• Identify and select your Workroom manager. This position will be key in accomplishing the tasks required for the pre-site visit process. The Workroom manager will serve as a focal point within your organization for coordinating the documentation standards requirements.
• Once your personalized Workroom has been established, prioritize and organize the tasks in the way that is most beneficial to your style. This option will be available once in the Workroom.
• Fully utilize all of the organizational structures within the Workroom. Maintaining a consistent approach to the tasks will enable increased comfort and confidence in the process.

Build consistent review opportunities in to your planning and implementation. Use the timelines in the Workroom as a way to share progress with everyone.

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