ISO 7101 focuses on optimising performance, accelerating impactful patient and organisational outcomes

Majid Zahoor, Global Director, Healthcare Sector, BSI, explains how ISO 7101, the world's first international healthcare quality management standard, following its first pilot implementation at Dr Mehta's Hospitals, Chennai, and Annai Velankanni Hospital, Tirunelveli, has the potential to help Indian hospitals embed a culture of quality, strengthen governance, and align with the country's universal healthcare and IRDAI's 'Insurance for All by 2047' vision, in an exclusive interview with Neha Aathavale

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How do you see ISO 7101 fitting into India's push for universal healthcare and IRDAI's 'Insurance for All by 2047'? ISO 7101 is the first global standard for Healthcare Quality Management Systems.

It can provide Indian organisations with a single, system-level, quality framework that can sit above today's programmatic layers. It complements PM-JAY'S strategic purchasing, ABDM's digital rails, and significantly enhances NABH, as well as NQAS conformance by focusing on leadership, risk, data, patient centered care and continuous improvement across clinical and non-clinical services.It enables payers and providers to align on the standardised common indicators with consistent reporting mechanisms (e.g., wait times, patient experience, safety, readmission rate, bed occupancy ratio and bed turnover ration) while IRDAI advances "Insurance for All by 2047." In short: ABDM = data, PM-JAY coverage, NABH andNQAS current facility conformance, and ISO 7101 = the fit for purpose management system that ties it together to drive consistent, measurable, management and clinical outcomes. Crucially, ISO 7101 focuses on optimising performance and accelerating impactful patient and organisational outcomes.

Given the sector's fragmentation, is one global standard practical for both corporate hospitals and rural facilities?