External supplier quality standards

We aim for total customer satisfaction. Customers are those who buy our products our suppliers, our staff, and all people with whom we have contact. We will treat each other with care and respect and strive for excellence in all we do to provide a high level of service to all customers, internal and external. We will thereby provide finished products and services to the highest standards of quality, safety, reliability, and durability. 

In the Intoduction to ISO 9001 it states that the quality assurance models represent three distinct forms of quality system suitable for the purpose of a supplier demonstrating its capability and for the assessment of such capability by external parties. In other words, the standard is suitable for contractual as well as for assessment purposes, but it does not actually require demonstration of capability to the assessor or purchaser unless required by the contract. 

The standard requires the supplier to investigate the cause of nonconformities relating to product, process, and quality system and record the results of the investigation. The supplementary requirements require the supplier to use problem-solving methods when an internal or external nonconformity occurs. 

The healthcare market is not perfect for many reasons including asymmetric information, adverse selection, moral hazard, and externalities. The patient (consumer) often does not know what medical services he/she may require, and does not know how to assess the quality of services provided. The supplier (providers) determines the services the patient needs (diagnostic and treatment). Therefore, unless it is a standard service, the information asymmetry inhibits the patient from shopping around for price and quality. The second reason is the insurance market -healthy people prefer not to buy health insurance (adverse selection), and insured patients may agree to uimecessary procedures because purchasing insurance decreases their price sensitivity to healthcare services (moral hazard). Finally, there is an externality effect in health care especially where infectious diseases are concerned - vaccinations of others benefit my health . This may lead to vaccination services being under-consumed. 

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