Analysis of the impact of maternal and child health care institution accreditation on the service improvement of secondary maternal and child health hospital in China / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the status of secondary maternal and child health hospital accreditation in China and the impact of such accreditation on their service improvement.Methods:The paper used the propensity score matching method to match the accreditation group and the non-accreditation group in 1∶1 ratio, and compared the related indicators of service capability of maternal and child health hospitals between the two groups by non-parametric test and Chi-square test.Results:A total of 842 maternal and child health care hospitals were matched. A comparison was made between the accreditation group and the non-accreditation group, and the differences of the following indicators of individual services within the hospital were statistically significant( P<0.01). These indicators were annual emergency attendance, the number of types of health services for women and children, the utilization rate of beds, the average daily hospital bed of each practicing physician; the following indicators of service management within their coverage were statistically significant namely the proportion of institutions carrying out health education evaluation within their coverage, that of institutions producing uniform " Mother and Child Health Handbook", that of institutions carrying out information quality control, as well as analysis and utilization.These indicators of the accreditation group were higher than those in the non-accreditation group( P<0.01). Conclusions:Given the role played by maternal and child health institution accreditation in promoting secondary maternal and child health hospital regarding better service content, quantity, efficiency and the quality of business management within their coverage, there is still room for improvement.