DEKRA Audit Netherlands
What are the benefits to certifying against the HKZ Small Organizations standard?
DEKRA Audit Netherlands
What are the benefits to certifying against the HKZ Small Organizations standard?
HKZ Small Organizations
One HKZ standard designed specifically for smaller care and welfare organizations
HKZ Small Organizations is a specific quality standard developed by HKZ (Harmonization of Quality Assessment in the Healthcare Sector) for small-scale care and welfare institutions. With this certification, you demonstrate that your organization meets professional quality standards and is continuously working on improvement. Whether your organization operates under the Long-Term Care Act (WLZ), the Social Support Act (Wmo), or in another healthcare sector, an HKZ certificate proves that your quality is in order - and stays that way.
What is HKZ for Small Organizations?
HKZ for Small Organizations is a quality standard specifically developed for small healthcare and social care organizations. The standard helps you demonstrate the quality and safety of your services and supports the continuous improvement of your organization.
The standard is tailored to the day-to-day practice of smaller organizations. It only includes requirements that are relevant to organizations with a maximum of 10 FTE and one location. This keeps the quality management system clear and practical, without unnecessary administration.
With an HKZ certificate, you show clients, employees, commissioning organizations and other stakeholders that your organization takes a structured approach to quality. The standard covers areas such as daily working practices, safety, client experiences and the continuous improvement of care and services.
In short, HKZ for Small Organizations helps small healthcare and social care organizations safeguard quality in a practical way and have it independently assessed.
Who is the standard HKZ Small Organizations for?
As the name HKZ Small Organizations suggests, this standard is intended for care and welfare organizations that want to implement and secure quality management, but do not have the size and complexity of larger institutions. In this way, this HKZ certification helps smaller organizations to set up and improve an effective healthcare management system. The HKZ Small Organizations standard was specifically developed for:
- Small healthcare providers such as independent treatment centers, solo practitioners, and small-scale care facilities.
- Care and welfare organizations with limited staff, up to a maximum of 10 FTEs.
- Care entrepreneurs seeking a quality label to demonstrate their professionalism and reliability.
- Organizations without complex management structures, where quality management must be simple and practically applicable.
Continuous learning and improvement with HKZ Small Organizations
The HKZ Small Organizations certification scheme helps identify risks clearly at both organizational and process levels. This enables you to implement improvements effectively, without unnecessary administrative burden. The standard is specifically tailored to the healthcare sector, with extra attention to the unique characteristics of small care institutions. As a result, HKZ Small Organizations aligns perfectly with current themes such as:
✅ Client self-direction
✅ Collaboration with chain partners
✅ Shared decision-making (patient participation)
✅ Collaboration with chain partners
✅ Shared decision-making (patient participation)
Moreover, an increasing number of clients, including insurers and government bodies, require HKZ certification. The greatest benefit? It encourages a culture of continuous learning and improvement, making your organization stronger and future-ready.
The certification process at DEKRA
Below, you will find the 7 steps of the certification process in a clear and accessible overview. The steps show how the trajectory progresses from the initial kennismaking to certification and ongoing follow-up, so you know what to expect at each stage.
What are the benefits for HKZ Small Organizations?
- More efficient processes: Less administrative burden and more focus on care delivery.
- Increased trust: Clients, partners, and funders see your organization as a reliable care provider.
- Improved collaboration: The standard encourages an integrated approach and cooperation across the care chain.
- Attractive to employees: Working at an HKZ-certified organization means working in a quality-driven environment.
HKZ Small Organization
Ready for the first step?
With DEKRA as your certification partner for HKZ Small Organizations, you benefit from an expert, practical approach backed by proven experience. Our auditors are ready to give you more information about the full process of management system and process certification. Contact DEKRA today and take the next step toward a strong, future-ready organization.
FAQs about HKZ Small Organizations
Your organization may qualify for HKZ for Small Organizations if you operate in the healthcare or social care sector and employ no more than 10 FTE. In addition, your organization must have one registered location, one management team and be registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.
Activities may still take place at different locations, for example when you provide care at clients’ homes or work across multiple care sites.
HKZ for Small Organizations was specifically developed for smaller healthcare and social care organizations. The standard takes into account their size and relatively limited management structure. Requirements that are not relevant to small organizations have been left out of the scheme.
The standard HKZ Care and Welfare norm has a broader scope and is intended for a wider range of healthcare and social care organizations.
Your organization must comply with all requirements included in the HKZ for Small Organizations certification scheme. Requirements cannot be excluded.
The standard focuses on areas such as the quality and safety of care, client experiences, daily working practices and the continuous improvement of your services.
This varies by organization and depends, among other things, on how far your quality management system has already been developed.
If you still need to set up and implement a quality management system, this typically takes around seven to nine months. The certification audit follows once the system has been implemented.
An HKZ certificate is valid for three years. To keep the certificate valid, a surveillance audit is carried out every year.
During these audits, DEKRA assesses whether your organization continues to meet the requirements and keeps working on improvement. After three years, a recertification audit takes place.
The cost depends on several factors, including the size and circumstances of your organization, the required audit effort and the planning of the certification process.
Following an initial discussion, you will receive a quotation outlining the costs, planning and applicable conditions.
No, HKZ certification is not legally mandatory in itself.
However, contracting authorities such as municipalities and health insurers may require certification as a condition for cooperation or for entering into a contract. Whether certification is mandatory for your organization therefore depends on your specific situation and the requirements of your contracting parties.
You can prepare your organization for certification yourself. You may also choose to engage a consultant to support you.
In addition, you can opt for a pre-audit by DEKRA to assess in advance whether your organization is ready for the certification audit. As an independent certification body, DEKRA is not permitted to provide consultancy on how to set up your quality management system.
A pre-audit is an optional assessment that helps you prepare for the certification audit. It provides insight into how ready your organization is for certification.
The initial certification audit is the formal audit used to assess whether your organization meets the requirements of HKZ for Small Organizations. It consists of a review of your documentation and an assessment of how the requirements are applied in practice.
If your organization grows beyond 10 FTE or no longer meets the other conditions for HKZ for Small Organizations, this scheme will no longer be suitable. You will then need to transition to another appropriate HKZ certification norm.
Want to know what this means for your organization and how you can prepare? Get in touch with Harriëtte van der Sar.
U kunt bij DEKRA een offerte aanvragen voor HKZ Kleine Organisaties. Na een eerste kennismaking bespreken we uw organisatie, het certificeringstraject en de benodigde audit. Vervolgens ontvangt u een offerte met de kosten, planning en voorwaarden. Na uw akkoord en de ondertekende certificeringsovereenkomst kan het traject worden ingepland.