[The accreditation program of hospital institutions in Argentina]

This document explains and evaluates the strategy adopted and the experience gathered by the Joint Commission for the Development of Quality Assurance for Medical Care, for accreditation and categorization of health care establishments. This Commission is a non governmental and non profit making institution formed by representatives of 12 Scientific Entities, Social Welfare (Social Security) and Union of Private Health Care Establishments, which is giving strength to a volunteer Accreditation Programme in establishments. The promotion of the programme has allowed to evaluate different aspects of the mentioned problematic. Among them: a) Primary Evaluation of Establishments, observing a high influence of small establishments that do not fulfill the basic requirements, b) the need to differentiate between establishments concerning their risks and complexity and c) development of the accreditation manual which has the application methodology and the standards agreed.