The HDAA Story
Our auditing organisation began in Brisbane, Queensland with a small team of people who believed (and still do) that despite its reputation "auditing" can have a significant impact on service delivery and consequently the lives of people with disability and the quality of health care organisations. We also strongly believed (and still do) that the most effective way of supporting service development is to work as a colleague and partner in support of services.
Our passion and vision is to improve the quality of the lives of people living with a disability and to contribute to safeguarding the delivery of healthcare. In so doing our vision is to contribute to making our healthcare organisations and communities stronger.
In early 2007 we were still a fledgling organisation with a small team base in various locations. We had a General Manager who was supported by another manager and a small team of auditors. At that time we were guided by our current Managing Director, David Hamer. Through his passion and vision we embarked on the next phase of our journey. We began building our disability programme in Queensland and were appointed to accredit diagnostic imaging services. We opened our first office and recruited more staff to deliver an enhanced and expanded the range of services as well as building the quality of our own auditing services. We are now providing auditing of some sort in all states and territories.
From the start we pursued the philosophy that positive, relationships are essential if we are to have credibility and gain acceptance when making judgements about services. We deeply understand that there has to be considerable respect for a service or practice to accept feedback. Services and practices need to feel that they are working with a true professional who is committed to helping improve and safeguard the service or practice.
We have always believed that we should do everything in our power to ensure our clients should receive the insight necessary to enable them to develop and grow. We have followed our belief that the relationships we have with managers and staff of clients is central to achieving our purpose.
We identified early on that our skills were directly applicable to health and disability services. All of the HDAA people who are involved in auditing have extensive experience as people who have received disability support or as managers who have worked at senior levels in the health and disability sectors.
The demand for our services has increased rapidly, driven by our commitment to providing a personalised cost effective service. We continued building our disability auditing services with the introduction of the Victoria Disability Standards and National Disability Advocacy Standards programmes. We also were selected by the Department of Health and Ageing as one of a select number of organisations that was to accredit diagnostic imaging services; which was the forerunner to standards setting to other healthcare services.
By building our client base in Queensland, Victoria and in other states we were able to further expand our audit program.
The key events that shaped how we've grown include:
- In 2007 approximately 40 services in Queensland selected us as their preferred provider of certification services. This was sufficient to support our operation move forward.
- In 2008 we were selected by the Department of Health and Ageing to provide diagnostic accreditation services throughout the nation. This positioned us at the beginning of a new movement of standards setting for all healthcare organisations.
- In 2009 we competed for, and were selected, by nearly half of the services that participated in the Standards for Disability Services in Victoria quality development programme. This provided us with insight into the disability service delivery in Victoria and especially the monitoring of outcomes.
- In early 2010 we were successful in being selected by about 40% of the services that participated in the National Disability Advocacy Program independent monitoring development. This provided us with further insight into the role of advocacy services.
- In April 2010 we were selected by the Department of Health and Ageing to implement Stage II of accreditation of diagnostic imaging services. This was a significant development for us as it expanded the client base and it provided us with continuity to our health accreditation programme.
Today, we are still a boutique provider of certification and accreditation services and our vision remains the same - to improve the quality of the lives of people living with a disability and to contribute to safeguarding the delivery of healthcare. In so doing, our vision is to contribute to making our healthcare organisations and communities stronger. Our belief in the means we help services to reach their potential every day.
We will continue to pursue our vision and strive for improved services for everyone.
A specialist health and disability auditing agency
HDAA specialises in the auditing of health and disability services. We are recognised as providing high quality auditing services by bodies such as the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) and the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA).
Our emphasis is on delivering a personalised auditing service that is a positive experience and that is helpful to health and disability service improvement and management of risk. Our audit reports are structured to provide you with the insight necessary to enable effective service development.
No matter what type of health and disability services you deliver, we welcome the opportunity to provide you with the insight and guidance necessary to support your on-going service improvements.
What you a can expect from HDAA
- Access to support and advice;
- Helpful communication;
- Experienced supportive auditors;
- Audit reports that inform and assist with your service improvement and risk management;
- Timely delivery of reports and certificates.
HDAA provides accreditation and certification assessment services for all health services. This includes allied health, primary care, diagnostic imaging, disability and associated assessments.
Approved by the Department of Health and Ageing as a Stage II Diagnostic Imaging Accreditor, we aim to support and work with Diagnostic Imaging practices to enable achievement of accreditation.
Do take the time to read our client testimonials and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
How HDAA manages its impartiality
Independence and impartiality statement
This is to confirm that the Health and Disability Auditing Australia Pty Ltd (HDAA) and its Impartiality Committee has considered the strict need and obligation on the Company to not allow financial or other considerations to impact on the Certification Process.
The Company has implemented a Certification Panel process for determining a certification decision. The Certification Panel may only be involved in certification decisions where they are not part of the assessment team and have no conflict of interest with the organisation being assessed.
In this way HDAA provides an assurance that each certification decision is an impartial one.
Where any individual has a conflict of interest, or perceived conflict of interest regarding a certification decision, that person will not take part in the certification decision making process with respect to that certification decision; this includes any director, manager, staff member, contracted person or other associated person.
The Certification Panel will determine the outcome of certification. Membership of the Certification Panel will include two knowledgeable persons who have training in auditing but who were not directly involved in the specific audit; for disability provider certification this will be a lead auditor and person with disability who is also an approved auditor in at least one of the disability programs which are operated by HDAA.
Where the recommendations of the audit team are not followed by the Certification Panel the recommendation of the audit team and the decision of the Certification Panel will be referred to the HDAA Impartiality Committee and the Impartiality Committee will determine the final decision outcome.
Our organisation structure is key to assuring the delivery of impartial audit decision making and functioning. We maintain impartiality through the provision of a standard contract between HDAA and any employee or contracted auditor. We also establish service agreements with clients that set out our mutual obligations to function in an impartial manor.
1. The auditor agreements require that auditors may not audit services if the auditor has provided consulting services within 24 months.
2. The client service agreements also require that the provider identify any conflict of interest.
We have, in brief, implemented the following rules to manage the risk of conflict of interest and maintain impartiality:
- Audit team members will not have worked with, or been a service user of, or consulted to the service provider, in the last 24 months, or have reasonable prospects of such work in the next 24 months.
- HDAA or audit team members will not have any financial interest in the service provider or relatives or friends with a financial interest in the service provider.
- HDAA or audit team members will not be in competition with the service provider.
- HDAA or audit team members will not have any other commercial or voluntary arrangement or directorship with the service provider.
- HDAA or audit team members will not have immediate family members employed by a service provider, or in any of the above situations.
- The audit team members will not have any personal bias or inclination which would affect decisions in relation to the service provider.
- HDAA or audit team members will not have any personal obligation, allegiance or loyalty to the service provider which would affect decisions.
The HDAA Symbol
The HDAA symbol is used by organisations certified by HDAA to indicate that they meet the requirements of relevant standards.
The symbol is also used by organisations to further emphasise that that their services have been assessed by an accredited Conformity Assessment Body (HDAA) that adheres to international standards of operations and according to local procedures.
HDAA Rules Governing the Use of the Certification Symbol (40 KB PDF) provides more detailed information on the use of the HDAA symbol.
