Today, patients are seeking care outside of hospitals more than ever. As patients consider which outpatient facility to trust, safety and high-quality care are important determining factors. Accreditation with QUAD A can provide important peace of mind.
Accreditation helps patients identify facilities that are dedicated to trustworthy, high-quality care. When choosing a facility, here’s what you need to know about accreditation, and how to find an accredited facility for your next appointment.
What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is an indication that a healthcare facility has gone above and beyond to provide high-quality care and patient safety.
When a facility decides to become accredited, they must prove that they’re operating safely and efficiently at every level: from the cleanliness of their building to the equipment and other procedures. They have to demonstrate that they have put in place safety protocols like infection control measures, management systems for the safe use of medications, and plans in case of emergency.
In short, accreditation gives patients peace of mind that a healthcare facility has taken extra steps to provide safe, high-quality care.
Certification vs. Accreditation: What’s the Difference?
When you research a healthcare facility, you may see that it is accredited, certified, or both. The terms are related, but they mean different things.
Medicare certification means a facility has met the applicable federal requirements to participate in Medicare. For eligible facility types, compliance with Medicare’s health and safety requirements can be evaluated through a state survey agency survey or accreditation under a CMS-approved program. Accreditation supports this pathway, but facilities must also meet other Medicare participation requirements.
Accreditation is an independent evaluation of a facility against an accrediting organization’s standards. QUAD A develops accreditation programs for specific care settings. Its Ambulatory Surgical Center program, for example, addresses the clinical and operational requirements of outpatient surgical facilities. For eligible ASCs and Rural Health Clinics, accreditation through QUAD A’s CMS-approved programs provides a pathway toward Medicare certification.
What it means for you: Certification and accreditation aren’t competing labels, and many facilities hold both. QUAD A accreditation tells you that an independent organization evaluated the systems behind a facility’s care, including oversight, preparedness, staff competency, and consistent processes.
Surveys: Verifying Compliance Through the On-Site Survey Process
Before a facility receives accreditation, it must pass a comprehensive survey inspection. QUAD A’s surveyors are certified healthcare professionals with deep experience in various types of care facilities. Their expertise means that no stone goes unturned during the survey.
QUAD A is unique because we are the only accrediting body that requires healthcare facilities to achieve 100% compliance with globally recognized safety and operational standards at the time of accreditation. Our surveyors perform a thorough inspection to verify that the facility is fully compliant, including:
- The facility itself
- The facility’s staff, their credentials, and their training
- The facility’s care practices and procedures
- The facility’s equipment
- The facility’s plan in case of an emergency
Once the survey is completed, the facility will receive a formal report that identifies any areas where they did not meet QUAD A’s standards. They then develop a correction plan to address these deficiencies and make improvements.
If the facility does not fix these issues, they do not receive accreditation. They will only become accredited once they demonstrate 100% compliance with the identified standards.
Resurveys: Consistent Regulatory Oversight
Accreditation reflects an ongoing commitment, which QUAD A reinforces through triennial resurveys. Facilities accredited by QUAD A have committed to excellence for years to come. We support facilities in maintaining that commitment through regular resurveys every few years, along with annual self-surveys in which facilities report their ongoing compliance with applicable standards.
Just like the initial survey, QUAD A sends surveyors to make sure that accredited facilities are still 100% compliant with the highest standards of care and patient safety. This shows that every facility adheres to best practices at all times.
Resurveys give patients peace of mind that a healthcare facility is truly dedicated to the safety and well-being of every patient.
Patient Safety Data Reporting: Moving American Healthcare Forward
Accreditation shows that a healthcare facility is committed to excellent care. Facilities that have been accredited by QUAD A take their commitment to the next level. QUAD A-accredited facilities actively help improve patient outcomes by contributing to our proprietary Patient Safety Data Reporting (PSDR) database.
With PSDR, QUAD A has successfully collected data from hundreds of thousands of individual cases, creating an expansive repository of healthcare data. Every three months, QUAD A-accredited surgical facilities report data on cases and their outcomes. This data reveals health trends affecting patients across the country, enabling constant improvement of care standards to enhance patient outcomes.
Insight pays off. Studies based on PSDR data show that accredited facilities see fewer adverse patient events compared to unaccredited facilities.1,2
How to Find a QUAD A-accredited Facility
Facilities accredited by QUAD A proudly display their certificate of accreditation. If there is no certificate on display, inquire with the facility representative if they are accredited. This knowledge is crucial to assist in choosing where to place your trust for your healthcare needs.
Sources
- Bucknor, A., Egeler, S. A., Chen, A. D., Chattha, A., Kamali, P., Brownstein, G., Reed, L., Watts, D., & Lin, S. J. (2018). National Mortality Rates after Outpatient Cosmetic Surgery and Low Rates of Perioperative Deep Vein Thrombosis Screening and Prophylaxis. Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery (1963), 142(1), 90–98. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000004499 - Foppiani, J. A., Hernandez Alvarez, A., Escobar-Domingo, M. J., Thomas, C., Lee, D., Taritsa, I. C., Fanning, J. E., Schuster, K. A., Rosenblatt, W., Choudry, U. H., Lee, B. T., & Lin, S. J. (2025). Assessment of Mortality Rates Associated With Perioperative Deep Vein Thrombosis Screening and Prophylaxis in Cosmetic Outpatient Procedures: An Updated National Evaluation Using QUAD A Patient Safety Data. Aesthetic Surgery Journal. Open forum, 7, ojaf105. https://doi.org/10.1093/asjof/ojaf105
