Monthly Briefing July 2026

A National Board hyperbaric facility accreditation program update is warranted as several erroneous statements, and derisive comments have appeared on social media and elsewhere.

Each survey is assigned five National Board-defined subject matter experts: this unique distinction and particularly high bar is described within the attachment. Surveys combine offsite and onsite components. Once accreditation applications are received, screened and approved, facilities electronically submit the documentation listed on Page 9 of the attached Accreditation Manual. On-site surveys occur within 60 days of documentation transfer.

This documentation is reviewed by a three-member accreditation committee comprised of a UHM boarded physician, an ACHRN and a CHT. Separate, commonly two-person, onsite teams are selected from the National Board’s surveyor cadre (averaging 28 years of hyperbaric experience), who likewise review facility documentation ahead of their visit. For more complex operational settings, three-person teams are dispatched. Having experienced a great many hyperbaric accreditation surveys over the years, National Board leadership sees no inherent value in the physician reviewing documents onsite vs. remotely.

What is particularly distinctive about the onsite survey is it is entirely performance-based. Surveyors are not elsewhere auditing paperwork but ever-present within the clinical facility tracking operational behaviors, directly observing delivery of patient care, communicating with patients, and monitoring adherence to key compliance standards.  This unique focus on operational workflow and patient safety has already borne fruit. Critical shortcomings have been observed during surveys of previously accredited facilities that would likely have been missed had surveyor focus also been documentation-based. Onsite reports are transmitted to the accreditation committee, whose analysis of offsite and onsite findings  results in a recommendation, from one of four options. This is submitted to the full board for voting. Accreditation decisions are rendered  within 15 business days of the onsite visits.

Facilities are National Board accredited in Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Surveys are pending in Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and North Carolina. Applications are anticipated from New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

A great deal of additional information has been provided via a series of well-received 30-minute Zoom meetings. If you and your colleagues would like to schedule a presentation, please let us know. We are invariably able to accommodate preferred availability.

Dick Clarke, President

National Board of Diving & Hyperbaric Medical Technology  

Surveyor Selection

Facility Accreditation Manual