| SPRINGFIELD — Mercy Medical Center has long expressed support of a national movement to improve the quality of care at hospitals, and that commitment was recently tested during a site survey by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organiza-tions (JCAHO), the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.
Mercy Medical Center, along with several other components of the Sisters of Providence Health System (SPHS), received “no requirements for improvement,” the highest possible rating from JCAHO in an unannounced survey.
“We continuously strive for excellence in quality and service. The Joint Commission’s unannounced site survey provides independent validation of our team’s commitment to providing the highest quality of patient care and the highest level of patient safety,” said Vincent McCorkle, president and CEO of SPHS. “Patients and their families can be assured that the best practices and procedures are in place every day.”
Although unannounced surveys are one element of the Joint Commission’s standard accreditation process, only 5{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of health care organizations are randomly selected to participate. Mercy Medical Center received full accreditation following its JCAHO survey in 2006. Some opportunities for minor improvement were noted during the 2006 survey, and all improvements have been achieved.
“We view the Joint Commission as our partner in efforts to improve patient satisfaction through the delivery of top-quality health care,” said Sharon Adams, vice president of Patient Care Services at Mercy. “Given this collaboration, such a validation site survey provides a welcome opportunity to concretely demonstrate that the highest standards of quality are being maintained.”
An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S.
Since 1951, JCAHO has maintained state-of-the-art standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations. JCAHO’s comprehensive process evaluates an organization’s compliance with these standards and other accreditation or certification requirements. |
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