On September 16, the Ministry of Health published in the Official Gazette the Exempt Decree N°52, dated September 1, 2021, which approves the new Manual that establishes the General Accreditation Standard for Institutional Providers that provide Dental Care, with its respective Checklist.

These documents are the result of an inter-institutional working group and the participation of public and private centers in order to ensure the quality of health services provided to the population.

Thus, the General Standard classifies its demands and requirements in different considerations, which depend on the scope of evaluation of the accreditation process. Thus, the areas to be evaluated correspond to the following: (1) Respect for patient dignity (PD); (2) Quality management (CAL); Clinical management (GCL); (3) Access, timeliness and continuity of care (AOC); (4) Human resource competencies (HR); (5) Records (REG); (6) Equipment safety (EQ); (7) Facility safety (INS); and, (8) Support services (AP).

On the other hand, each scope of dental care evaluation considers different components, characteristics and verifiers. To summarize:

i. Components are the operational aspects that contribute to fulfilling the intent of the scope.

ii. The characteristics disaggregate the component into smaller areas of analysis in the evaluation, where it is specified what is to be evaluated.

iii.  Verifiers are the specific requirements to be measured in order to qualify compliance with each characteristic.

Finally, the detailed evaluation of the provider will be expressed in a fieldwork table in which the required measurable elements will be assessed.

Should you require additional information on this matter, please contact Andrea Abascal (aabascal@jdf.cl), and/or Rocío Vergara (rvergara@jdf.cl).