For 35 years, AAAHC has been the leader in accreditation for ambulatory care organizations.
We are proud to serve as an advocate for high-quality health care and patient safety. Our role includes:
We offer a unique peer-based review process founded on a collaborative, consultative, and educational approach. The AAAHC Certificate of Accreditation is widely recognized as a symbol of quality by third party payers, medical organizations, liability insurance companies, state and federal agencies and the public.
AAAHC offers accreditation programs for ambulatory surgery centers, office-based surgery centers, primary care practices (including Medical Home), occupational health centers, retail clinics, health plans/managed care organizations, student health centers, and large medical and dental group practices.
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) was founded in 1979 to:
"Encourage and assist ambulatory health care organizations to provide the highest achievable level of care for recipients in the most efficient and economically sound manner. The AAAHC accomplishes this by the operation of a peer-based assessment, consultation, education and accreditation program."
The six founding members of the AAAHC were the American College Health Association, the American Group Practice Association (now known as the American Medical Group Association), the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (now known as the Ambulatory Surgery Foundation), the Group Health Association of America (now known as the American Association of Health Plans), the Medical Group Management Association, and the National Association of Community Health Centers. Today's AAAHC includes 18 member organizations representing the broad spectrum of ambulatory health care. The growth of the Board has helped the AAAHC add new Standards in areas such as dentistry, behavioral health, and health education and wellness, while continuously updating existing Standards to reflect cutting-edge ambulatory care knowledge and practice.
Since its inception, the AAAHC has promoted a voluntary, peer-based, consultative, and educational survey process to advance patient care. These values hold true today, as embodied in the current mission statement:
Improving health care quality through accreditation.