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Accreditation
The Clinical Center adheres to the highest standards in the conduct of its clinical research, delivery of patient care services and clinical research education. This assures safe, quality patient care and the highest level of clinical research practices. Several organizations guide the overall Clinical Center operations through the evaluation and accreditation processes.
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
ACGME is responsible for the accreditation of graduate medical education (GME) training programs within the United States. Accreditation is accomplished through a peer-review process and is based upon established standards and requirements. Both individual training programs and the GME-sponsoring institution are reviewed on an annual maintenance-of-accreditation cycle by the ACGME, and then more comprehensively for the purpose of re-accreditation by the ACGME on a 10-year review cycle. The NIH and the Clinical Center are institutional sponsors of 17 ACGME-accredited programs. The most recent ACGME institutional re-accreditation site visit was conducted in May 2013 and resulted in a highly favorable outcome. The next ACGME institutional re-accreditation site visit is scheduled for October 2027.
At its most recent annual ACGME maintenance-of-accreditation review in April 2016, the NIH and the Clinical Center were awarded Continued Accreditation status, with a commendation for demonstrated substantial compliance with the ACGME's Institutional Requirements.
Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP)
AAHRPP works to protect the rights and welfare of research participants by fostering and advancing the ethical and professional conduct of persons and organizations that engage in research with human participants. As part of a pilot test to develop an accreditation process for human subjects research, an AHRPP team evaluated the clinical research programs at the Clinical Center. The evaluation team met with Clinical Center staff, NIH institute representatives and researchers and observed more than a dozen NIH Institutional Review Board sessions. The team was favorably impressed with how the Clinical Center conducts biomedical research. The pilot test served to enhance AAHRPP's efforts to establish a "gold seal," and the process necessary to reach that threshold signifying adherence to a rigorous set of human protection standards.
College of American Pathologists (CAP)
The Clinical Center's department of Laboratory Medicine was accredited "with distinction" in 2002 by the CAP. The peer-to-peer inspection is conducted every two years as part of the CAP's Commission on Laboratory Accreditation. In 2002, the commission added the terms "with distinction" to mark laboratories that passed the rigorous criteria with especially high marks. The Clinical Center's Department of Laboratory Medicine is one of more than 6,000 nationwide CAP-accredited laboratories. The accreditation program began in the early 1960s and is recognized by the federal government as being equal to, or more stringent than, its own inspection program. The CAP is a medical society serving 15,000 physician members and the laboratory community throughout the world.
Joint Commission
Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 20,500 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards. To maintain and earn accreditation, organizations must have an extensive onsite review by a team of Joint Commission healthcare professionals at least once every three years. The review's purpose is to evaluate the organization's performance in areas that affect patient care. The NIH Clinical Center received full accreditation status in 2021.
Joint Commission Quality Report
Joint Commission Survey - Public Information Notice
Governance
The Clinical Center's unique and valuable contribution to the healthcare sector rests in its ability to respond quickly and creatively to ever-changing and growing clinical research needs. Strides in medical technologies, imaging sciences and molecular research require an adaptable, flexible facility and organization for scientific investigation and exploration. The responsive, articulate cooperative interactions of its governing and advisory bodies enable the Clinical Center to better meet and respond to the demands and challenges of the clinical research world.
Clinical Center Research Hospital Board
The Clinical Center Research Hospital Board (CCRHB) was established in 2016 to oversee operations at the NIH Clinical Center focused on fortifying a culture and practice of safety and quality and strengthening leadership for clinical care quality, oversight and compliance. A new Chief Executive Officer position was established, and under this leadership, the 2019 CC Strategic Plan titled, People, Places, Capabilities: The NIH Clinical Center at 65 Strategic Plan, introduced new priorities to transition the Clinical Center (CC) to a high reliability clinical research organization ensuring the best achievable patient outcomes. The CCRHB actively engages with CC and NIH leaders to consider a host of new or updated capabilities, improved facilities and infrastructure, while fully supporting existing CC staff and preparing the next generation to tackle tough biomedical research issues within a vibrant culture of patient safety and regulatory compliance.
Board of Scientific Counselors
The purpose of the Boards of Scientific Counselors is to secure unbiased and objective evaluations of the intramural research programs and work of individual scientists. Expert scientists from outside NIH participate as members of this review group. The Board of Scientific Counselors of the Clinical Center was established in October 1990. The Board advises the NIH director, NIH deputy director for intramural research and the Clinical Center CEO regarding the organization's intramural clinical research programs though periodic visits to the laboratories to assess the research, progress, evaluation, productivity, and performance of staff scientists.
Medical Executive Committee
This committee serves to advise the Clinical Center CEO on the clinical aspects of operations and develops policies governing medical care standards in the Clinical Center. The Medical Executive Committee is made up of clinical directors of the NIH intramural clinical research programs. The group meets twice a month.
Patient Advisory Group
A major source of patient feedback is the Patient Advisory Group (PAG), a forum established in 1998 and open to all patients and their families. The PAG meets semiannually, and as needed, with the CEO of the Clinical Center and senior staff to discuss issues of concern and make recommendations to improve efforts for providing the highest quality research and patient care services.