Coffee Regional Medical Center (CRMC) announces the significant accomplishment of achieving ISO 9001 certification, an International Quality Compliance program. CRMC also successfully completed reaccreditation by DNV as a full-service acute care hospital.
By earning the DNV accreditation, CRMC demonstrated meeting or exceeding the patient quality and safety standards in the Conditions of Participation set forth by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CRMC selected DNV as its accreditation organization several years ago because DNV is the only accreditation organization that also surveys to ISO standards.
“The DNV program is consistent with our long-standing commitment to quality and patient safety,” says Vicki Lewis, President and CEO of CRMC. “The ability to integrate ISO 9001 quality standards with our balanced scorecard platform is consistent with our strategic plan.”
ISO 9001 is the world’s most trusted quality management system used by performance-driven organizations around the world to advance their quality and safety objectives.
“We have taken an entirely different approach to accreditation.” says DNV Healthcare USA Inc. President Patrick Horine. “Since accreditation is a must-have credential for every hospital in this country, why not make it more valuable? That’s where ISO 9001 comes into play and turns the typical accreditation process into a quality transformation.”
DNV’s accreditation program, called NIAHO® (Integrated Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), requires annual hospital surveys – rather than surveys every three years – and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments to help discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety processes.