By demonstrating compliance with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s (JCAHO) national standards for healthcare quality and safety, Wilcox Memorial Hospital leaders have earned the JCAHO Gold Seal of Approval, hospital officials said in a press release. “We
By demonstrating compliance with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s (JCAHO) national standards for healthcare quality and safety, Wilcox Memorial Hospital leaders have earned the JCAHO Gold Seal of Approval, hospital officials said in a press release.
“We sought accreditation for our organization because we want to demonstrate our commitment to patients’ safety and quality care,” said Kathy Clark, Wilcox Memorial Hospital acting chief executive officer.
“We view obtaining joint commission accreditation as another step toward achieving excellence,” she said.
Members of the joint commission’s on-site survey of Wilcox Memorial Hospital occurred in December. The award of accreditation is for a three-year period ending 2008.
The JCAHO was founded in 1951. Its members seek to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of healthcare-accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in healthcare organizations.
Members of the joint commission evaluate and accredit more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States.
An independent, not-for-profit organization, JCAHO is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare.
Members of the joint commission are dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation’s health care through voluntary accreditation.
Clark spoke of her pride in members of the staff who focus on providing the best care to patients, and called the accreditation “proof of an organization-wide commitment to provide quality care everyday.”
In addition to members of the joint commission’s accreditation survey, Wilcox Memorial Hospital was also surveyed by officials of the state Department of Health.
This three-day survey came on the heels of JCAHO as a validation survey for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (federal-government funding for the elderly and disadvantaged populations).
Wilcox Memorial Hospital associates performed very well in both survey processes.
“Above all, the national standards are intended to stimulate continuous, systematic and organization-wide improvement in an organization’s performance and the outcomes of care,” says Darlene Christiansen, executive director, Hospital Accreditation Program, JCAHO.
“The community should be proud that Wilcox Memorial Hospital is focusing on the most challenging goal, to continuously raise quality and safety to higher levels.”
