What Is NABH Accreditation? Full Form, Meaning, Benefits and Programmes

NABH full form and what it is

NABH is the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers. It is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI) and, by its own account, has operated since 2005. NABH does three things:

1. Writes standards describing how a safe, well-run healthcare organisation should work.
2. Assesses organisations against those standards through trained assessors.
3. Accredits or certifies organisations that meet them, and checks that they keep meeting them through surveillance and renewal.

NABH's hospital accreditation standards are accredited by ISQua, the International Society for Quality in Health Care, which puts NABH on par with other ISQua-recognised accreditation bodies worldwide. NABH reports more than 29,000 facilities accredited or certified across more than 30 programmes.

What "NABH accredited" actually means

When a hospital is NABH accredited, NABH's assessors have visited, interviewed staff, traced patients through their care, checked records and confirmed that the hospital meets the standard for its category. For hospitals above 50 beds that standard is the 6th Edition — 10 chapters, 100 standards and 639 objective elements — covering everything from how patients are assessed on arrival to how medicines are stored, infections prevented, staff credentialed and quality measured.

Accreditation is not a licence to operate. A hospital still needs its clinical establishment registration, fire NOC, biomedical waste authorisation and other statutory approvals — and NABH checks those too.

NABH accreditation vs NABH certification

• Accreditation programmes assess a full standard and run on longer cycles with surveillance — for example hospitals (6th Edition), small healthcare organisations (SHCO), AYUSH hospitals, Panchakarma clinics, dental healthcare service providers, allopathic clinics, eye care, blood centres and medical imaging.
• Certification programmes assess a foundation-level standard and are valid for two years — for example entry-level certification for hospitals, AYUSH hospitals, AYUSH centres and dental clinics, and medical laboratory certification.

Entry-level certification is designed as a stepping stone to full accreditation. Our comparison of entry-level vs full accreditation explains when each makes sense.

The main NABH programmes

NABH also runs programmes for eye care organisations, blood centres, medical imaging, emergency departments, nursing excellence, digital health, stroke centres, ethics committees and care homes, and assesses hospitals for CGHS and ECHS empanelment.

Is NABH accreditation mandatory?

For private facilities, no law makes NABH accreditation compulsory across India. But it increasingly decides how much a hospital is paid:

• CGHS: under package rates revised for about 2,000 procedures from 13 October 2025, non-NABH hospitals are paid 15% less than the NABH-accredited base rate. See CGHS empanelment.
• AB-PMJAY: hospitals with NABH entry-level certification qualify for the Silver quality level (10% incentive), and NABH-accredited hospitals for Gold (15%). See PMJAY.
• Insurance: insurers ask for NABH status during network empanelment, and for AYUSH in-patient treatment they look for government or QCI/NABH-accredited facilities. See TPA and insurance.

Benefits of NABH accreditation

• Higher payments from schemes and stronger negotiation with insurers
• Patient trust — the NABH mark is widely recognised
• Fewer adverse events — systems for medication safety, infection prevention and fall prevention
• Legal defensibility — documented consent, protocols and records
• Better staff — clear roles, training and credentialing

How much does NABH cost?

NABH fees depend on the programme and size. They start at ₹11,000 for a two-year AYUSH centre certification and ₹1,000 + ₹10,000 for a small dental clinic, and reach ₹1,50,000 application plus ₹5,00,000 a year for hospitals above 500 beds — all plus 18% GST. Our complete NABH fee guide lists every programme.

How to check a hospital's NABH status

Search NABH's online directory, then read the facility's certificate: the certificate number, the validity dates and the scope of services. For a definite answer, email the certificate number to verification@nabh.co. Our guide to checking NABH accreditation walks through each step.

How to get NABH accreditation

In short: buy the standards, implement them for at least three months, apply online, pass the desktop and on-site assessments and close any non-conformities. Our step-by-step guide to the NABH process explains each stage — or ask us for a free gap assessment of your facility.