In the United States, health care providers and facilities are monitored by both federal and state government agencies. We also rely on independent, not-for-profit organizations like the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) to set standards and certify that those standards are being met.

In recent years, those standards have included information privacy and security provisions. JCAHO conducts on-site evaluations and accredits more than 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the US, including hospitals of all types, ambulatory care providers, clinical laboratories, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. NCQA evaluates and accredits managed care plans, including more than half of US HMOs; it also conducts on-site evaluations of health facilities.

Last modified: 14-May-2005 [RC]