AAAHC offers accreditation program for small practices

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.