About — HWASC

Our Mission

The Healthcare Workforce Access Standards Commission develops voluntary consensus standards that define how non-hospital personnel — supplier representatives, technical product service professionals, and other vendors — are certified for competency, credentialed, verified, and granted function-based access to healthcare facilities.

Today, these expectations vary from institution to institution, with no nationally accepted framework beneath them. HWASC's mission is to replace that patchwork with open, balanced, evidence-based standards that strengthen patient safety, workforce competency, and operational quality across the healthcare system.

An Accredited Standards Developer

HWASC is an ANSI-accredited standards developer. Accreditation by the American National Standards Institute means our standards development procedures have been reviewed and approved by ANSI as meeting the ANSI Essential Requirements — the national benchmark for openness, balance, consensus, and due process — and our program is subject to ANSI audit.

Placeholder: Insert exact accreditation designation and effective date here (e.g., "Accredited by ANSI as a standards developer on [date]; accreditation covers the scope published on this site").

Openness — participation is open to all parties directly and materially affected, without undue barriers.

Balance — no single interest category dominates the consensus body.

Consensus — standards are approved by substantial agreement, with all views and objections considered.

Due Process & Appeals — documented procedures, public review, and a right of appeal for any materially affected party.

Two Distinct Programs, One Purpose

HWASC's work spans two related but deliberately separate activities:

Standards Development

Developing American National Standards through our accredited consensus process. These establish requirements for vendor credentialing, access controls, competency verification, conformity assessment, and related areas within our accredited scope.

How standards are developed →

Certification-Related Activities

Convening independent subject matter expert processes — such as the National HCIR™ Job Task Analysis — that build the evidence base for ISO/IEC 17024 personnel certification. These are governed by certification development and psychometric practices, not by the standards process.

About the JTA Initiative →

Why we keep them separate: Standards development establishes consensus requirements for a standard. ISO/IEC 17024 activities establish the competencies for a certification scheme. Keeping the two distinct — in governance, in meetings, and in participant roles — preserves the integrity of both. The JTA's published, evidence-based definition of the role is available to the standards consensus body as an evidentiary input, which it may reference the way it references any authoritative source; the consensus body independently determines the content of the standard through the accredited ANSI process.

Governance

HWASC operates under documented procedures governing membership, committee balance, public review, and appeals.

Leadership

Peter Daigle

Executive Director

Peter Daigle leads the Commission's standards development program and its national certification initiatives.

Required before launch: The ANSI Essential Requirements require that written procedures governing standards development be available to any interested party. Post or link the HWASC operating procedures here, along with board/commission structure, technical committee roster, and additional officers. Expand the Executive Director bio when ready.

Standards for How Healthcare Access Works