Joint Commission, SGS form alliance for coordinated accreditation

PRNewswire

OAKBROOK TERRACE — The Joint Commission and SGS Group are joining forces to offer hospitals and critical access hospitals in the United States the option of pursuing both accreditation and certification to various ISO and industry best practice standards beginning in early 2012.

This program combines The Joint Commission’s modern health care quality and safety standards, survey process, and accountability performance measures with SGS management system audits including certification to the ISO 9001 quality management system standards. The combination of accreditation and ISO offers hospitals the tools to maintain best practices and lower costs across their entire operation while remaining focused on their core service — delivering quality health care to patients.

“We are providing this option for hospitals and critical access hospitals in the United States that are interested in exploring the combination of ISO education and certification with Joint Commission accreditation as a mechanism to more precisely identify system vulnerabilities and inefficiencies,” said Ann Scott Blouin, R.N., Ph.D., FACHE, executive vice president, accreditation and certification operations of The Joint Commission.

“Future plans are to expand the option to organizations accredited under other Joint Commission accreditation programs,” she added.

SGS Senior Vice President Tony Perkins added the alliance “is a natural progression for health care performance improvement,

“We are offering health care organizations an opportunity to take advantage of a number of ISO standards which complement Joint Commission accreditation requirements,” Perkins said, “This provides a method for hospitals to focus on improvements in quality and customer service in all departments, as well as their facility’s impact on the environment.”