The Effect of Accreditation on Patient Satisfaction in Public Healthcare Delivery: A Comparative Study of Accredited and Non-accredited Hospitals in Kerala

Abstract

Accreditation of a healthcare organisation stimulates ongoing improvementand enables the organisation to demonstrate a commitment to quality care.The healthcare accreditation process has an impact on physical infrastructuredevelopment and is not linked to overall patient satisfaction. This studyexamined patient satisfaction of accredited hospitals in Kerala in comparisonto non-accredited hospitals by focusing on exploring the impact ofaccreditation on hospital service quality using patient satisfaction as anindicator. The study showed that there was no significant impact ofaccreditation on patient satisfaction and both accredited and non-accreditedhospitals give identical scores for the variables of satisfaction.