Beyond hospitals and hospital accreditation, there are now a number of alternative American organizations possessing healthcare-related deeming power for Medicare.

Noncompliance may result in fines of up to $10,000 and loss of hospital accreditation.

An OR manager must maintain compliance with this spectrum of policies in order to maintain both patient safety as well as hospital accreditation.

A number of larger countries engage in hospital accreditation that is provided internally.

It has its share of critics, who call it a watchdog with no teeth; in fact, the joint commission rarely removes hospital accreditations.

Broadly speaking, there exist two types of hospital accreditation:

The New York system dates to the 1960's when a series of city hospitals, at risk of losing their hospital accreditation, began working relationships with medical schools.

The Joint Commission stipulates seven management plans for hospital accreditation.

This involves national or international hospital accreditations.

The functioning of the quality assurance system is an important factor in decisions on hospital accreditation.