NABH accreditation consultants for hospitals in India who want the assessment to confirm what already happens on the wards.

What it is

What is NABH accreditation and what is it used for?

NABH is the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, a constituent board of the Quality Council of India. It sets accreditation standards for healthcare providers and runs the programmes that assess them. For hospitals, the route is NABH's Hospitals Accreditation Programme: the hospital applies, NABH assessors examine how care is actually delivered against the hospital standard, and NABH decides whether to accredit.

Hospitals use NABH accreditation to show patients, insurers, corporate clients and referring doctors that their care processes, patient safety arrangements and quality monitoring meet a recognised national benchmark. Just as important, the preparation itself gives the hospital one way of working across departments, with clear responsibilities and measured results.

Current edition. NABH's hospital standard is in its 6th edition, dated January 2025, and NABH has issued an implementation plan for it and runs its own programme on implementing the 6th edition. The dates in that plan apply to your hospital, so confirm them with NABH directly. Sterling works from the copy of the standard your hospital obtains from NABH. NABH also runs a separate Entry-Level Certification Programme for hospitals, now in its 2nd edition.

Who it is for

Who needs NABH accreditation?

The Hospitals Accreditation Programme is NABH's accreditation route for hospitals. Hospitals usually come to Sterling for NABH readiness from one of four directions:

• Patients, insurers or corporate clients ask for it. Insurers, employers and international patients may ask whether a hospital is NABH accredited before they send patients there. Ask them which programme they mean before planning the work.
• A tender or empanelment names it. Government schemes, public procurement and corporate panels may make NABH accreditation a condition or a scoring criterion. Read the exact wording and check it against NABH's current programmes.
• A health authority or scheme gives it weight. Some public schemes and authorities in India refer to NABH. What applies to your hospital depends on your state and the schemes you take part in, and your legal advisers can confirm it.
• A hospital group wants one standard everywhere. A chain adding hospitals wants every site on the same policies, the same indicators and the same internal audit programme.

Accreditation reflects how the hospital behaves on an ordinary night shift, not only on assessment day. That is where the preparation has to reach.

Requirements

What do NABH accreditation requirements cover?

NABH publishes its standards on its own website, and the hospital standard is organised in chapters. Your readiness work follows NABH's current text, chapter by chapter. The list below is not NABH's structure: it is the evidence a hospital typically has to build to show it meets that text.

• Gap assessment: a department-by-department comparison of current practice with the NABH standard your hospital obtains from NABH.
• Policies and SOPs: written procedures for clinical and support services, approved, current and known to the people who use them.
• Staff training: orientation and ongoing training on the policies, safety practices and roles each person holds, with records to prove it.
• Quality indicators: measures the hospital chooses and tracks, reviewed by leadership and used to drive improvement.
• Incident reporting and corrective action: events reported, analysed and closed, with the lessons fed back into practice.
• Internal audits: planned audits of departments and records by trained internal auditors, with findings followed to closure.
• Mock assessments: a full rehearsal in the manner of an NABH assessment, walking the wards and testing staff knowledge.
• Leadership oversight: management reviewing indicators, audit results and resources, and recording its decisions.

Accreditation process

How does a hospital get NABH accreditation?

Build a hospital that already works to the standard, then ask NABH to assess it. Sterling prepares the hospital; the assessment and the accreditation decision are NABH's alone.

1. 01
   Confirm the programme and the scope.Agree with your leadership which NABH programme fits, and which services, departments and sites the application will cover.
2. 02
   Gap assessment against the current NABH standard.Compare each department with the standard, keep what already works and agree actions, owners and dates for the rest.
3. 03
   Build policies, SOPs, training and indicators.Write or revise procedures with the people who use them, train staff, and start measuring quality indicators so a track record builds up.
4. 04
   Internal audits and a mock assessment.Trained internal auditors check every department, then a mock assessment tests the hospital as NABH assessors would; every finding is closed with evidence.
5. 05
   Apply, host NABH's assessment and respond.Apply through NABH's online accreditation portal, host its assessors, address anything they raise within the time NABH allows and await NABH's decision; then keep the hospital ready on the cycle NABH sets.

Check the route before you sign anything. Only NABH grants NABH accreditation; no consultant can issue or promise it on NABH's behalf. Any hospital's status can be confirmed with the "Find an Accredited Healthcare Organisation" search on nabh.co.

Cost

How much does NABH accreditation readiness cost?

The cost of preparing depends mainly on how much of your practice is already written down and followed, not on the size of the building. A hospital with working SOPs and an incident system needs far less support than one starting from scratch across many departments. Every Sterling proposal lists its components, and nothing is added later.

Timeline

How long does NABH accreditation take?

Three factors set the pace: how many policies and SOPs need writing or revising, how long your quality indicators have been measured, and when NABH can schedule the assessment. As an estimate, a hospital preparing for its first NABH accreditation typically needs nine to eighteen months from gap assessment to decision; a hospital with established systems moves faster.

Your engagement

What your NABH readiness engagement includes

Sterling OS™ structures every engagement, and each phase has a clear meaning for a hospital. Sterling does not accredit or assess hospitals: NABH assesses your hospital and makes the accreditation decision.

• Design™: guided support

  Your quality team and department heads do the work; a Sterling consultant sets the method, reviews every SOP and record, and coaches staff ahead of the mock assessment.

• Drive™: managed support

  The alternative to Design™ for stretched hospitals: Sterling drafts policies, SOPs and indicator formats with your departments and runs the programme through to the assessment.

• Sustain™: after accreditation

  Internal audits, indicator reviews, updates when NABH revises its standard, and preparation for NABH's next visit.

• Automate™: Effivity

  Your documents, audits, incidents and indicators run in Effivity, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for your people

  Internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

Accreditation decisions remain with NABH.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with NABH (India)

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• EU IVDR 2017/746EU IVDR compliance consulting for IVD manufacturers: performance evidence, QMS, traceability and post-market follow-up prepared for your notified body.
• EU MDR 2017/745EU MDR compliance consulting for CE marking: QMS, technical documentation, traceability and post-market surveillance prepared for your notified body.
• FDA QMSR (21 CFR 820)FDA QMSR compliance consulting for device makers selling in the US: a quality management system ready for FDA inspection, wherever you manufacture.