The healthcare industry needs to follow and adhere to many regulations to ensure the health and safety of the patients who depend on their products or services. They also need to consistently enhance their operations, adapt to new technologies, minimise risks, and ensure the efficiency and timeliness of their services. Due to these reasons, healthcare industry certifications published by the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) are of immense importance. While helping the healthcare organisations to demonstrate the credibility of their services, the ISO standards enable them to improve their reputation in the highly competitive industry. As a result, it boosts their growth by attracting more customers and inspiring loyalty in them.
The healthcare industry is vast which comprises hospitals, medical research centres, pharmacies and drug manufacturers, medical devices manufacturers, pathological labs, diagnostic clinics, and so on. All types of organisations, regardless of the services they offer or products they produce need to get valuable certifications to provide quality services, meet every demand of the customers, and comply with legal or regulatory requirements. This blog aims to explain in brief the importance of ISO standards to organisations in the healthcare industry.
To learn about the significance of certifications for healthcare organisations, one should first become aware of the crucial challenges that they face regularly.
Here are the key challenges that healthcare and medical organisation often face, and which can affect the quality and efficiency of their services.
Ensuring patient privacy and security: Healthcare industry is at a greater risk of information security breaches or cyber-attacks. It is because collecting information from patients and keeping medical records is a basic part of the operations of healthcare providers. So that makes information and cybersecurity management indispensable for healthcare organisations to save vulnerable and sensitive patient information.
Increasing costs of healthcare operations: The consistently rising operational costs of healthcare industry which make their services pricey and even unaffordable to some sections of the public are a persistent challenge. The rise in operational costs not only affects the customers but also the hospitals and services providers in many ways. Even though healthcare services are a necessity, increased costs make the patients unable to run periodic tests, follow-up doctor visits, and so on. Thus, the revenue of healthcare providers is affected too.
Rapidly changing healthcare regulations: The consistently evolving and changing healthcare laws and regulations pose a great challenge to hospitals and service providers. Being responsible for the health, safety, and wellbeing of patients, healthcare providers need to comply with every new requirement and revised standards or else they might get trapped in costly litigations, penalties, or fine payments.
Market disruptions: There are many external market factors, predictable or unpredictable, that can affect healthcare services. The digital revolution like the use of apps and online consultation, increasing demand for personalised medicines, online marketplace integration for pharmacies and medical devices, etc. are some of the common disruptions. Any medical service or healthcare provider must be capable enough to cope with any disruptions.
Waste management: Handling and reducing biological wastes is perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced by healthcare services providers. So, it requires the implementation of best practices, use of safety of PPEs or safety kits and following routine procedures for appropriate management of wastes.
Healthcare organisations need effective management systems to overcome all these challenges and thrive in the competitive market. ISO standards like ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 can help them to establish the best management frameworks. In the next section, learn about the benefits of having certifications if your organisation is a part of the healthcare industry.
There is a specific standard for cybersecurity and information security, achieving which ensures that you can better store and secure the patient data. It calls for the implementation of an information security management framework that promotes best practices for documenting the data and protecting them from thefts, hacks, loss, or misuses. This subsequently builds trust in the patients and makes them loyal to your services.
The supply chain of healthcare services involves a vast number of activities including procurement of medical devices, setting up of necessary infrastructure, tracking materials and operations, tracking customer requirements, keeping records, handling appointments, maintaining interdepartmental communications, and so on. It is necessary for you to maintain the efficiency of every activity in your supply chain to ensure that correct services or treatments are provided to patients at the right time. You can ensure efficient supply chain management with a standardised quality management system. It systematically allows you to track every operation and monitor the supplier performance which helps in decision-making and providing the timely quality services to the patients.
Both the standards for occupational health and safety (OHS) management and environmental management help healthcare organisations to reduce wastes, dispose of wastes properly, and reduce their impacts. Achieving these standards requires you to monitor the wastes generated at various points of your services, adopt necessary recycling practices, and dispose of the unsafe wastes while maintaining personal hygiene safety.
Internationally acclaimed certifications, especially the ones designed by ISO, add a tag of excellence to the healthcare organisations. As a result, they build a reputation in the industry and develop as a brand with a commitment to quality health services. The ability to provide quality care is the primary success factor for any healthcare service provider. Thus, by achieving the ISO standards, you can gain competitive advantages which would drive your growth.
Healthcare industry certifications are considered obligatory for the services providers if they want to deliver quality care and continually improve patient satisfaction. Certifications not only demonstrate their ability to provide top-notch services by meeting customer requirements but also prove their compliance with changing healthcare laws and tough regulations. Moreover, healthcare providers are required to implement structured management systems to become certified. This subsequently helps them to take a systematic approach of managing risks, improving operational efficiency, managing wastes, reducing costs, and continually improving quality.
If your organisation provides healthcare services or manufacturers medical devices, seek to get the relevant certifications from Compliancehelp. We are a team of trained ISO consultants in Australia with extensive experience in many industries including healthcare. We can provide you with full support and assistance for achieving certifications quickly.
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