The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has received a proposal from the US for a guidance document on implementing the ISO 9000 quality management standards in the health care sector.

The proposal, made by the American Society for Quality and the Automotive Industry Action Group, concerns health care sector-specific guidelines based on ISO 9004:2000, Quality management systems - Guidelines for performance improvements, which could be published as ISO's first Industry Technical Agreement (ITA). The latter is one of the alternatives to fully-fledged International Standards offered by ISO for cases where swift development and publication takes priority. 

If the proposal is accepted, a workshop will take place in Warren, MI (Detroit) on October 26 - 27, 2000 and the health care document may be published as soon as December 2000. For more information visit www.iso.ch/presse/health_care.htm. 

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Quality Management Document Proposed to ISO