Accreditation is an external, standards-based check that raises care quality and patient safety while strengthening public trust. This chapter explains why organizations pursue accreditation such as regulatory expectations, payer and purchaser incentives, reputational benefits, risk reduction, consumer awareness, and a clearer pathway to system improvement. It distinguishes compliance (meeting minimum, prescriptive requirements) from quality (consistently delivering better clinical outcomes and experiences), and shows how accreditation can be a bridge between the two when used for learning rather than box-ticking. We outline major accreditation schemes and their core features with examples from India for private and public health systems and international programs. At their core, these schemes promote structured processes to find, fix, and prevent deficiencies and to drive organizational excellence. Practical guidance covers carrying the process forward. The chapter also describes how grading of hospitals complements accreditation by signaling performance tiers, guiding patient choice, and motivating stepwise improvement across the sector.