The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has created an accreditation program tailored for smaller dental practices.
The program is priced to be cost-effective and designed to meet the specific needs of practices that offer office-based surgery (OBS), according to the association. The AAAHC defines an OBS center as an organization that has no more than four dentists and no more than two operating/procedure rooms.
Features of the OBS accreditation program include the following:
The AAAHC OBS standards are written as statements describing the characteristics required of an accreditable organization. The Accreditation Handbook for Office-Based Surgery with Review Guidelines is a tool that gives OBS organizations a clearer understanding of how compliance with each of the standards will be assessed.
A reduction in accreditation fees has been made to reflect the smaller size of OBS organizations compared with ambulatory surgery centers. The total cost of $3,500 includes a $775 application fee and a $2,725 fee for the onsite survey and related activities. All subsequent surveys also cost $3,500.
