Dispensing physicians seek certification.
Similar quality control system developed for all general practices.
In the Netherlands, a quarter of the dispensing physicians have already either secured or applied for certification under KEMA’s special scheme. A KEMA Value E-xelerator certificate serves as a quality guarantee for both patients and health insurers. Uniquely, KEMA’s assessment method attaches considerable weight to the views of patients. The Value E-xelerator is now available for all general practices.
KEMA was asked by the Netherlands’ National General Practitioners’ Association to develop a tool capable of objectively demonstrating that the quality of dispensing physicians was on a par with the public pharmacy sector. The expectation was that certification would help dispensing physicians in their negotiations with health insurers and in the recruitment and retention of patients. In response, KEMA came up with a completely new method of certification for dispensing physicians. ‘The Value E-xelerator scheme is based on electronic auditing and sector-specific benchmarking. As well as carrying out in-person inspections once every eighteen months, our auditors regularly log on to each participating dispensing physicians’ quality system to check that quality requirements are being met and that any necessary improvements have been made,’ explains KEMA’s Gerico de Vries. Dispensing physicians participating in the scheme also invite their patients to complete questionnaires. KEMA records the client satisfaction data thus generated and publishes them on the Internet in the form of a benchmark. De Vries: ‘Patient feedback not only encourages dispensing physicians to raise quality standards, but is also decisive within the context of the certification process. The findings show that, generally speaking, the dispensing physicians perform well.’
Widely adopted
Electronic auditing and benchmarking have been so successful within this sector that a similar quality control system has been developed for all general practices. Following a recent pilot project, the new system is now ready for national rollout. Meanwhile, an accreditation scheme based on the Value E-xelerator is being set up by the Recruitment Recognition Foundation (SKR), and successful pilots in the pharmacy trade are almost finished. Another variant of the Value E-xelerator model is available for retail chains and similar organizations. Instead of international standards, this variant uses organization-specific objectives or franchise formulas related to standards as the basis for comparison. ‘The benchmarking principle still holds good,’ says De Vries, ‘so that central management has a better grip on quality in the individual branches or stores.’