The DNV maintains stricter standards of evaluation than are required by law in order to earn its accreditation, and conducts annual surveys and reviews of all of its accredited institutions -- a feature which is neither required nor supplied by the other two accreditation agencies (Dow 2009). Hospitals are already switching to DNV accreditation as a mark of distinction. An especially attractive feature of the DNV accreditation in terms of boosting a hospital's image and competitiveness is its adherence to the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) quality management standards and methods, integrating them with the accreditation standards of the Medicare Conditions of Participation (Lee 2009; Curran 2010). This standard is already widely used in the international health services community, and generally entails a higher level of quality and stricter control than current United States' requirements for accreditation (Lee 2009). This has been a large part of DNV's early successes with it's accreditation program, in that it provides an extra guarantee (or at least the appearance of such a guarantee) of quality for hospitals that choose to become accredited by DNV. The extra level of care and control that is exerted in each accredited facility may vary, but presumably all DNV accredited...

The full effect of their entrance to the market will likely not be seen for several more years, and possibly a decade. Eventually, however, it is likely that other accreditation agencies will arise, and that competition for the creation of profitable and competitive standards will emerge as a new component of the healthcare industry. The higher standards will be welcome; as for the rest of it, the nation will simply have to wait and see.