Chapter V: Accreditation of the quality of professional practice

The accreditation provided for in Article L. 4135-1 is awarded to doctors or medical teams in the same speciality practising in a health care organisation who have, over a period of twelve months, in the case of doctors involved in accreditation for the first time, and four years, in the case of renewal of accreditation: 1° Made the declaration provided for in Article L. 1414-3-3 of events considered to involve…

Physicians or medical teams practising in health establishments providing obstetrics, obstetric ultrasound, intensive care or one of the following specialities may apply for accreditation: 1° General surgery ; 2° Neurosurgery ; 3° Urological surgery ; 4° Orthopaedic surgery and traumatology ; 5° Pediatric surgery ; 6° Surgery of the face and neck ; 7° Maxillo-facial surgery and stomatology, or maxillo-facial surgery ; 8° Reconstructive plastic surgery ; 9° Thoracic and…

The reporting of risk events provided for in Article L. 1414-3-3 is intended to : 1° Enable healthcare institutions, doctors and medical teams to take any useful measure to prevent the occurrence of adverse events related to healthcare or to limit their effects ; 2° To provide the Haute Autorité de santé with the information necessary for the development or validation, in conjunction with the professionals and organisations concerned, of…

The doctor must report risk events: 1° Or via a body set up for this purpose by the establishment’s internal regulations and whose members are appointed by the establishment’s medical committee, medical conference or medical commission. This body forwards risk events to the approved body designated by the doctor; 2° Or directly to an approved body in accordance with the procedures defined by the College of the Haute Autorité de…

Within the framework of the quality of care or professional practice guidelines mentioned in 2° of Article L. 1414-3-3, the bodies approved by the Haute Autorité de santé are responsible for : 1° Examining applications for accreditation from doctors and medical teams ; 2° Assessing applications for accreditation and forwarding their opinion on these applications to the Haute Autorité de santé; 3° Recruiting and training experts in each of the…

The list of approved organisations is published by the Haute Autorité de santé. The Haute Autorité de santé ensures that accredited organisations comply with the obligations set out in articles D. 4135-4, D. 4135-5 and D. 4135-7. Failure to comply with these obligations may result in the suspension or withdrawal of the organisation’s accreditation by the Haute Autorité de santé.

Doctors or medical teams inform the hospital medical boards, medical conferences or medical commissions of their involvement in the accreditation procedure and of the outcome of this application. Before the expiry of the periods mentioned in the first paragraph of Article D. 4135-1 and within a period set by the Haute Autorité de santé which may not exceed two months, the approved body chosen by the doctor sends the Haute…

The Haute Autorité de santé will draw up an annual report on accreditation of the quality of professional practice in the various specialties, based on the information provided by the accredited organisations. This report is made public.

For the application of the provisions of this chapter, army hospitals are considered to be health establishments. The central director of the armed forces health service exercises, for armed forces hospitals, the powers conferred on the establishment medical commissions by article D. 4135-4 and receives notification from the Haute Autorité de santé of the accreditation of armed forces practitioners as provided for in article D. 4135-7.