Tomah Memorial Earns The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval

Tomah, WI., July 1, 2010--- By demonstrating compliance with national standards for health care quality and safety, Tomah Memorial Hospital has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval™.

"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 Mark Pelletier, R.N., M.S., executive director, Hospital Programs, Accreditation and Certification Services, The Joint Commission. "The community should be proud that Tomah Memorial is focusing on the most challenging goal -- to continuously raise quality and safety to higher levels."

Tomah Memorial Quality and Compliance Director Shelly Egstad R.N. said the recognition demonstrates compliance with the Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety.

“You really can't prepare for the survey because you have no idea when the teams will show up at your door. Our accreditation demonstrates our day to day organization wide commitment to providing quality patient care,” Egstad explained.

The Joint Commission conducted an unannounced, on-site evaluation of Tomah Memorial this past fall, which Egstad said exemplifies the hospital’s dedication to complying with the Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards on a continuous basis.

"It is one of the most grueling quality checks that any organization can go through and we're happy to report that our accreditation will be continued and extended as a result of the survey. We have a great staff that buys in to the need to maintain standards 24 / 7, not just when the surveyors are in the building,” Egstad said.

During an accreditation survey, The Joint Commission evaluates an organization’s performance of functions and processes aimed at continuously improving patient outcomes. This assessment is accomplished through evaluating an organization’s compliance with the applicable standards in the manual, based on the following:

Tracing the care delivered to patients
Verbal and written information provided to The Joint Commission
On-site observations and interviews by Joint Commission surveyors
Documents provided by the organization

Egstad said the accreditation process is beneficial to the organization and to the community.
“It (accreditation) strengthens community confidence in the quality and safety of care, treatment and services, provides a competitive edge in the marketplace, improves risk management and risk reduction, while providing education on good practices to improve business operations.”

Tomah Memorial has earned the national accreditation the past 26 consecutive years.