Southwest Memorial is the first hospital in the state to earn a new type of health accreditation.
Southwest Health System has demonstrated it meets or exceeds patient safety standards set forth by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
DNV GL’s accreditation program is the only one to integrate the ISO 9001 Quality Management System with the Medicare Conditions of Participation.
“The program is consistent with our long-term commitment to quality and patient safety,” says Liz Sellers, SHS chief clinical officer and interim CEO, “The ability to integrate ISO 9001 quality standards with our clinical and financial processes is a major step forward.”
Sellers said SHS is the first hospital in Colorado to achieve compliance with ISO 9001, a quality-management system used by performance-driven organizations around the world. Southwest is the second Critical Access Hospital (25 or fewer beds) to receive the accreditation in the United States.
“We have taken an entirely different approach to accreditation, and hospitals are really responding,” says DNV GL Healthcare CEO Patrick Horine. “Since accreditation is a must-have credential for just about every hospital in this country, why not make it more valuable, and get more out of it? That’s where ISO 9001 comes into play, and turns the typical get-your-ticket-punched accreditation exercise into a quality transformation.”
DNV GL’s accreditation program, called NIAHO (Integrated Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), involves annual hospital surveys – instead of every three years – and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments and to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols.
The DNV GL Group operates in more than 100 countries. For more information about DNV GL hospital accreditation, visit www.dnvglhealthcare.com.