Accreditation shapes how organizations deliver care, manage risk, and earn trust from payers and patients. It signals that a provider or plan meets rigorously evaluated standards and uses reliable processes to improve outcomes. Choosing the right accreditor depends on services, payer mix and growth plans.
- 1. URAC
- 2. National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
- 3. The Joint Commission
- 4. The Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA)
- 5. The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)
- 6. The Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC)
- 7. American Accreditation Association (AAA)
- How to Match Scope, Data Maturity and Payer Strategy
- Telehealth, EHRs and Analytics as Part of Accreditation
- Why Accreditation Still Moves the Needle
- Which Scenarios Match Which Accreditor?
- How to Make Accreditation a Performance Engine
The providers listed are the most common accreditation programs for health care organizations. Each serves a distinct slice of the ecosystem. Match your strategic goals to the accreditor’s scope and strengths, then build your roadmap around survey readiness, data discipline and realistic timelines.
1. URAC
URAC is a national accreditor known for extensive programs in utilization management, health plan operations, specialty pharmacy and telehealth.
The provider sets early benchmarks for utilization management and notes. The federal government and nearly every state recognize its Health Utilization Management accreditation, which helps network participation and contracting. It offers a formal Telehealth Accreditation that maps to multiple delivery models, including consumer-to-provider and provider-to-provider workflows. Organizations use it to validate privacy, safety and process maturity in virtual care.
URAC is preferred if you manage benefits, operate pharmacy services at scale or run telehealth as a core business. You need standards that speak the language of payers, regulators and digital operations.
Best for:
- Health plans or third-party administrators that need accreditation recognized by regulators and large purchasers
- Pharmacy services such as specialty pharmacy, pharmacy benefit management, mail service or health content vendors that must prove safety and quality
- Telehealth companies seeking mature standards for virtual care operations
2. National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
NCQA accredits health plans and recognizes primary care practices for Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) transformation. It is anchored by the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) measures.
NCQA’s PCMH program stands out because it is widely adopted by medical homes in the U.S. — with more than 10,000 practices recognized and supported by dozens of payers and employers. It updates policies multiple times yearly and requires standardized PCMH measures for core quality improvement elements, which tightens comparability and makes data more actionable.
NCQA’s annual Health Plan Ratings integrate HEDIS and CAHPS with accreditation status, creating real business impact for plans chasing star ratings, employer contracts and growth. Use it if you operate a health plan or a primary care enterprise serious about structured quality improvement, transparent measurement and value-based performance.
Best for:
- Health plans that compete on quality ratings and need recognized accreditation to strengthen bids and market credibility
- Primary care groups moving to team-based care and value-based contracts that want PCMH Recognition
3. The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission accredits hospitals and a broad range of care settings, from ambulatory to home care and labs. Its survey process evaluates compliance with performance standards designed to improve quality and safety, typically through on-site surveys.
The Joint Commission accredits across the continuum, making it a common denominator for integrated delivery networks and systems that want consistency in standards and survey methodology. Effective July 1, 2024, it launched a Telehealth Accreditation Program for organizations that deliver care exclusively via telehealth. Use it if you run a hospital or enterprise that needs a widely recognized hospital-grade accreditation with system-level consistency and growing support for telehealth operations.
Best for:
- Acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals and multi-site systems that need a widely recognized hospital accreditation
- Behavioral health, ambulatory and home care organizations seeking hospital-caliber standards
4. The Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA)
COA is a specialized accreditor for nurse anesthesia educational programs and postgraduate Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) fellowships. It is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation for this scope.
COA’s standards and policies are current, with updated manuals and revisions as recent as 2025 for accreditation policies and 2024–2026 for doctoral program standards. This cadence matters for institutions aligning curricula, clinical hours and distance education with evolving requirements. Use it if your primary goal is educational accreditation for nurse anesthesia training programs affiliated with clinical sites, not direct accreditation of hospital service lines.
Best for:
- Universities, academic medical centers and teaching hospitals that operate nurse anesthesia programs at the master’s or doctoral level
- Organizations building postgraduate CRNA fellowships
5. The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)
CARF is an international, independent, nonprofit accreditor with deep programs in rehabilitation, behavioral health and aging services. CARF emphasizes person-centered, outcomes-driven standards and international applicability.
CARF stands out because it publishes detailed service-area frameworks for integrated behavioral health and addictions care, reflecting a holistic model that many state purchasers and community payers expect. Use it if you run rehab or behavioral health services where person-centered planning, functional outcomes and community integration anchor your model of care.
Best for:
- Behavioral health and addiction programs integrating psychosocial rehabilitation, family services and community-based models
- Post-acute and rehabilitation providers that want standards tailored to functional outcomes and patient participation
6. The Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC)
ACHC is a nationally recognized accreditor with strong programs for home health, hospice, pharmacies and other community-based services. Its standards are updated regularly and align with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance.
ACHC updates standards to reflect regulatory changes. For example, in 2024, it updated hospice and renal dialysis accreditation to incorporate the latest CMS guidance. That pace helps operators keep survey prep aligned with current rules. It is a good choice if you operate home-based or community-based care and want standards and support tightly linked to current CMS expectations and operational realities.
Best for:
- Home health and hospice providers who need a practical, service-specific accreditation path
- Pharmacies and community-based organizations that require clear routes to regulatory alignment and payer recognition
7. American Accreditation Association (AAA)
AAA publishes evidence-based accreditation standards. Its standards are internationally recognized and align with global quality bodies, such as the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua).
AAA’s patient care, operations and leadership criteria follow international best practices. That makes it a candidate for cross-border health systems or ambulatory providers expanding outside the U.S. Use it if you serve international patients or manage facilities abroad and need a standards framework designed for multi-country acceptance.
Best for:
- Hospitals and clinics operating in international markets that want accreditation aligned with global criteria
- Organizations seeking recognition that travels across borders or complements country-specific requirements
How to Match Scope, Data Maturity and Payer Strategy
What are the most common accreditation programs for health care organizations? The most informed answer starts with three filters:
Scope of Services
Hospital systems typically choose The Joint Commission for accreditation, often combined with NCQA for health plans or PCMH for primary care, CARF for rehab or behavioral health, and ACHC for home-based services. URAC fits best for utilization management, telehealth operations and pharmacy. COA is purpose-built for nurse anesthesia education. AAA suits organizations with international growth.
Data Discipline
If the enterprise already produces reliable HEDIS-like measures, NCQA accelerates progress because it plugs directly into established reporting and ratings infrastructure. If outcomes and person-centered planning anchor the program model, CARF may offer a better fit.
Payer Strategy
Many payers and regulators look for specific accreditations when contracting. URAC’s Health Utilization Management accreditation and The Joint Commission’s hospital accreditation often check critical boxes for participation and credibility.
Telehealth, EHRs and Analytics as Part of Accreditation
Digital capability is a must-have. Standards increasingly evaluate how organizations use electronic health records, telehealth platforms and analytics to improve outcomes and streamline operations.
The Joint Commission’s 2024 Telehealth Accreditation formalized requirements for organizations delivering care exclusively through virtual visits. NCQA’s move to standardized PCMH measures in 2024 reinforced that practices must generate and submit consistent data across core quality domains. The direction is clear — capture clean data, monitor key metrics and show closed-loop improvement.
Why Accreditation Still Moves the Needle
A 2025 PLOS open-access study of hospital professionals reported that 80% believe accreditation enhances patient care, staff motivation, teamwork, collaboration and values — yet only 47.8% say they were informed of recommendations since the last survey. The gap underscores why leaders must pair the badge with a cadence of transparent follow-through across units.
Scale also matters. In 2025, the U.S. will have 6,093 hospitals, which means accreditors operate at a size where consistency, surveyor calibration and continuous standards updates become operational priorities. Systems can use that scale to benchmark internal performance and accelerate facility standardization.
Which Scenarios Match Which Accreditor?
Use this quick guide to match common scenarios with the accreditor that fits. Start with services and payer requirements, then layer in data maturity and digital tools to refine the choice.
- Health plan with employer contracts to win: Use NCQA for plan accreditation and HEDIS-anchored performance, and use URAC for utilization management, pharmacy and telehealth.
- Hospital systems with ambulatory sites and home-based services: Use The Joint Commission for hospitals and ambulatory, ACHC for home health or hospice, and CARF for rehab or behavioral health lines. This avoids misfit standards and leverages specialty depth.
- Primary care group transforming to value-based care: UseNCQA for team-based care, standardized measures and payer recognition. Layer URAC telehealth if virtual visits drive access or chronic care management.
- Academic medical center launching a nurse anesthesia program: Use COA for educational accreditation aligned to USDE and CHEA recognition with current doctoral standards.
- Organization with international clinics or cross-border ambitions: UseAAA for internationally framed standards, primarily where ISQua alignment supports market recognition. Validate payer expectations in each country before you commit.
How to Make Accreditation a Performance Engine
Assign an executive owner and an operational leader for each accreditation stream. Run a monthly “standards to metrics” meeting that ties each requirement to one key performance indicator, owner and improvement cycle. Treat survey readiness as a by-product of disciplined operations, not a last-minute sprint.
Map standards to EHR fields, telehealth workflows and registries. If a standard requires medication reconciliation, build the alert and measure completion. If a telehealth standard expects identity verification or contingency plans for connectivity loss, codify it in scripts and downtime standard operating procedures, then audit calls.
For NCQA and URAC programs, save one annotated example per criterion that shows the policy, the workflow screenshot and the metric trend. For Joint Commission or ACHC, script brief huddles on units where staff rehearse how processes meet standards. Surveys go smoothly when staff can narrate why a process exists and how it improves outcomes.
Elevate Your Standards
Pick the accreditor that matches your service mix and payer strategy, then use its standards to hard-wire improvement into daily operations. Start where the business impact is clearest and let that momentum fund the next wave. Leaders who treat accreditation as a durable operating system, not a badge, will see safer care, tighter processes and stronger contracts year after year.
