Circular No. 25/2020/TT-BYT stipulates the awarding of the National Hospital Quality Award.

CIRCULAR

Regulations on the Awarding of the National Hospital Quality Award

Pursuant to the Law on Competition and Reward dated November 26, 2003; the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Competition and Reward dated June 14, 2005 and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Competition and Reward dated November 16, 2013;

Pursuant to Decree No. 91/2017/ND-CP dated July 31, 2017 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Competition and Reward;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 75/2017/NĐ-CP dated June 20, 2017 stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Health;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment,

The Minister of Health issues this Circular regulating the awarding of the National Hospital Quality Award.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

Article 1. This Circular stipulates the name of the award, criteria for granting, and the organization of the awarding process for the National Hospital Quality Award (hereinafter referred to as the Award).

2. This Circular applies to:

a) Hospitals that achieve high quality assessment levels according to the Hospital Quality Criteria and specialized quality assessment criteria issued by the Minister of Health;

b) Agencies, organizations, and individuals related to the awarding process of the Award.

Article 2. Time of Awarding

1. The National Hospital Quality Award shall be awarded every two years and announced during World Standards Day (October 14).

2. The awarding process will begin from 2021.

Article 3. Principles for conferring titles

1. Correctly targeting the specified subjects, meeting the criteria, and following the procedures prescribed in this Circular.

2. Accurate, democratic, transparent, and open.

3. There is no limit to the number of times and titles awarded to each entity.

Chapter II

NAME OF THE AWARD AND CRITERIA FOR GRANTING

Article 4. Name of the Award

1. National Quality Award:

a) National Gold Award for Hospital Quality: 01 award;

b) National Silver Award for Hospital Quality: 02 awards.

2. Specialized Awards include 01 gold and 01 silver award for each of the following topics:

a) Patient Safety Award;

b) Surgical Safety Award;

c) Clinical Quality Award;

d) Laboratory Quality Award;

đ) Hospital Pharmacy Work Award;

e) Patient Care Award;

g) Clinical Nutrition Award;

h) Infection Control Award;

i) Healthcare Human Resource Development Award;

k) Improvement of Outpatient and Inpatient Treatment Process Award;

l) Information Technology Application in Hospitals Award;

m) Patient Satisfaction Response Award.

Article 5. Form of the Award

1. National awards are presented in the form of certificates and gold or silver cups.

2. Specialized awards are presented in the form of certificates and gold or silver emblems.

Article 6. Granting Criteria for the National Quality Award

1. Minimum criteria for consideration:

a) Hospitals achieving a hospital quality assessment score of at least 4.00 based on the Hospital Quality Criteria issued together with Decision No. 6858/QĐ-BYT dated November 18, 2016 of the Minister of Health (hereinafter referred to as the Hospital Quality Criteria) and not having any criterion below level 3 for at least two consecutive years up to the time of application;

b) Hospitals implementing mandatory and voluntary medical incident reporting systems at hospitals according to the regulations of the Minister of Health on preventing medical incidents in healthcare facilities for at least two years. Hospitals have no medical errors leading to death as concluded by the Medical Expert Committee under the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment for at least two consecutive years up to the time of application;

c) Hospitals conducting patient and healthcare worker satisfaction surveys according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and achieving a satisfaction rate of patients and healthcare workers of 85% or higher;

d) Having at least one specialized award in the same year of application (this standard does not apply to the first application in 2021).

2. Specific criteria for granting awards: After compiling a list of hospitals meeting the minimum criteria stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, the Quality Assessment Team of the Ministry-level Award Review Council will re-evaluate according to the Hospital Quality Criteria and conduct patient and healthcare worker satisfaction surveys to consider the following awards:

a) 01 Gold Award: the hospital ranked first in terms of hospital quality points among the evaluated hospitals;

b) 02 Silver Awards: the hospitals ranked second and third in terms of hospital quality points among the evaluated hospitals;

c) If an award has two or more hospitals with the same quality points or a difference of 0.05 points or less, the following secondary criteria will be considered in sequence:

- Hospitals with more specialized awards;

- Hospitals meeting international quality standards such as JCI, HAS or equivalent;

- Hospitals with international specialty or topic awards; - Hospitals with more initiatives for quality improvement recognized by the evaluation council and competent authorities. Initiatives with greater impact, applied on a larger scale, positively enhancing patient and healthcare worker satisfaction, the image of healthcare professionals, and the reputation of the hospital;

- Hospitals with higher satisfaction survey results conducted by the Quality Assessment Team of the Council.

Article 7. Criteria for awarding special awards

1. Minimum criteria for consideration:

a) Hospitals that achieve a minimum overall quality assessment score of 3.75 according to the Hospital Quality Standards issued by the Ministry of Health and have no criteria below level 2 for at least two consecutive years up to the time of application for the award;

b) Hospitals that achieve a minimum quality assessment score of 4.00 for the criteria specified in Clause 2 of this Article;

c) Hospitals that have implemented mandatory and voluntary medical incident reporting systems in accordance with the Minister of Health's regulations on preventing medical incidents in healthcare facilities for at least two years. The hospital has not had any professional errors leading to death as concluded by the specialized council under the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment for at least two consecutive years up to the time of application for the award;

d) Hospitals that conduct patient and healthcare worker satisfaction surveys in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and achieve a satisfaction rate of patients and healthcare workers of 85% or higher.

2. Specific criteria for awarding special awards:

After compiling a list of hospitals meeting the minimum criteria stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, the Quality Assessment Team of the Award Granting Council will re-evaluate the quality of the specialties based on the following specific criteria:

a) Patient Safety Award: evaluated according to criteria C1.1, C1.2 and all of Part D of the Hospital Quality Standards;

b) Surgical Safety Award: evaluated according to the Surgical Safety Quality Assessment Standards pursuant to Decision No. 7482/QĐ-BYT dated December 18, 2018 of the Minister of Health;

c) Clinical Quality Award: evaluated according to criteria C5.1 to C5.5 and criteria C10.1, C10.2 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

d) Laboratory Quality Award: evaluated according to criteria C8.1, C8.2 of the Hospital Quality Standards and the Laboratory Quality Assessment Standards pursuant to Decision No. 2429/QĐ-BYT dated June 12, 2017 of the Minister of Health;

đ) Hospital Pharmacy Work Award: evaluated according to criteria C9.1 to C9.6 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

e) Patient Care Award: evaluated according to criteria A2.1 to A2.5, criterion A4.2 and criteria C6.1 to C6.3 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

g) Clinical Nutrition Award: evaluated according to criteria C7.1 to C7.5 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

h) Infection Control Award: evaluated according to criteria A3.1, A3.2 and criteria C4.1 to C4.6 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

i) Healthcare Human Resource Development Award: evaluated according to criteria in Part B of the Hospital Quality Standards;

k) Improvement of Medical Examination and Treatment Process Award: evaluated according to criteria A1.1 to A1.6 and criteria A4.1, A4.3, A4.4 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

l) Information Technology Application in Hospitals Award: evaluated according to criteria C2.1, C2.2 and criteria C3.1, C3.2 of the Hospital Quality Standards;

m) Patient Satisfaction Response Award: evaluated according to criteria A4.5, A4.6 of the Hospital Quality Standards and patient and healthcare worker satisfaction survey regulations pursuant to Decision No. 3869/QĐ-BYT dated August 28, 2019 of the Minister of Health.

3. Awards and criteria for awarding special awards:

a) 01 Gold Award: the hospital ranked first in the quality point scores of the criteria within the specialty among the hospitals being assessed;

b) 01 Silver Award: the hospital ranked second in the quality point scores of the criteria within the specialty among the hospitals being assessed;

c) If there are two or more hospitals with the same quality point scores for a special award, the following secondary criteria will be considered successively:

- Hospitals with international recognized quality certifications related to the specialty or subspecialty;

- Hospitals with international awards related to the specialty or subspecialty;

- Hospitals with more initiatives for improving quality in the awarded specialty, recognized by the evaluation council or competent authority;

- Hospitals with higher satisfaction survey results conducted by the Quality Assessment Team of the Council.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF THE AWARDING AND BESTOWAL OF AWARDS

Article 8. Competence to Award

The Minister of Health decides on the awarding of the Prize according to the criteria stipulated in Articles 6 and 7 of this Circular, based on the proposal of the Prize Award Council.

Article 9. Prize Award Council, Standing Office of the Council

1. The Minister of Health establishes the Prize Award Council and its Standing Office to assist the Council. The Standing Office is located at the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment - Ministry of Health.

2. Composition of the Council:

The Council consists of from nine to eleven members, including:

a) Chairperson of the Council: Leader of the Ministry of Health;

b) Vice-Chairperson of the Council: Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment and Head of the Department of Communication and Competition;

c) Members of the Council: Leaders of Departments and Bureaus: Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, Bureau of Traditional Medicine Management; Legal Affairs Department; Cadre Organization Department; Inspectorate of the Ministry of Health; Leaders of related agencies and units and experts in the field of medical examination and treatment; representatives of the Vietnam Medical Association or the Vietnam Nursing Association or other professional associations.

3. Tasks of the Council:

a) Organize the awarding of the Prize based on the proposal of the Standing Office;

b) Review the revocation of the Prize according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 12 of this Circular.

4. Tasks of the Standing Office:

a) Carry out tasks assigned by the Chairperson of the Council;

b) Compile a list of hospitals and review, check, and cross-reference the minimum criteria for awarding as stipulated in Articles 6 and 7 of this Circular;

c) Report the re-evaluation results and compile a list of selected hospitals to the Council.

Article 10. Establishment of the Quality Assessment Team of the Council

1. The Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment establishes the Quality Assessment Team of the Council to serve the purpose of evaluating and awarding the Prize.

2. The Quality Assessment Team consists of from five to seven members as follows:

a) Team Leader: Leader of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment;

b) Team members are experienced experts in quality management.

3. Tasks of the Quality Assessment Team:

a) Re-evaluate hospitals according to the criteria stipulated in Articles 6 and 7 of this Circular;

b) Report the assessment results to the Standing Office of the Council.

Article 11. Evaluation, Awarding Process and Organization of Presentation

1. Special topic awards are evaluated and awarded first, then the results of these special topic awards are used to continue the evaluation and awarding of the National Prize.

2. Evaluation and Awarding Process:

a) Step 1: The Standing Office of the Council compiles a list of hospitals meeting the minimum criteria as stipulated in Articles 6 and 7 of this Circular;

b) Step 2: The Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment establishes the Quality Assessment Team;

c) Step 3: The Quality Assessment Team conducts a re-evaluation of hospitals on the list;

d) Step 4: The Quality Assessment Team reports the results to the Standing Office;

e) Step 5: The Standing Office presents the hospital selection results to the Council for approval;

f) Step 6: The Standing Office of the Council submits the award decision to the Minister for signature.

3. Organization of the Award Presentation Ceremony:

Based on the award decision, the Ministry of Health organizes the Award Presentation Ceremony. The organization of the Award Presentation Ceremony follows the time specified in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular.

Article 12. Revocation of the Award

1. The Hospital, the Evaluation Team, the Standing Office, and the Council shall be responsible for the accuracy of the hospital quality assessment results serving as the basis for awarding the Award.

2. In case violations are discovered during the evaluation and awarding process of the Award, causing distortion of the Award's results, the Council shall consider and propose to the Minister of Health to revoke or annul the Award's results depending on the nature and severity of the violations.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 13. Effective Date

This Circular takes effect from February 15, 2021.

Article 14. Cross-referencing Provisions

In cases where the referenced documents in this Circular are replaced or amended, they shall be applied according to the replaced or amended documents.

Article 15. Responsibility for Implementation

The Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, the Heads of agencies and units under the Ministry of Health, the Directors of Provincial Health Departments, and the Heads of health units under various Ministries, sectors, and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular. During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, it is recommended that agencies, organizations, and individuals report to the Ministry of Health (Department of Medical Examination and Treatment) for consideration and resolution.

During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, it is recommended that agencies, organizations, and individuals report to the Ministry of Health (Department of Medical Examination and Treatment) for consideration and resolution./.