Mercy Medical Center Redding (MMCR) has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in laboratories. The accreditation award recognizes MMCR’s dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards.
MMCR underwent a rigorous unannounced on-site survey in November 2012. A team of Joint Commission expert surveyors evaluated MMCR for compliance with standards of care that directly affect the quality and safety of diagnostic services and patient care.
“In achieving Joint Commission accreditation, Mercy Medical Center Redding has demonstrated its commitment to the highest level of care for its patients,” said Jennifer Rhamy, M.B.A., M.A., M.T. (ASCP) SBB, HP, Executive Director, Laboratory Accreditation Program, The Joint Commission.
“Accreditation is a voluntary process and I commend Mercy Medical Center Redding for successfully undertaking this challenge to elevate its standard of care and instill confidence in the community it serves.”
“With Joint Commission accreditation, we are making a significant investment in quality on a day-to-day basis through all levels of the organization. Joint Commission accreditation provides us a framework to take our organization to the next level and helps create a culture of excellence,” said Mercy Medical Center and Dignity Health North State President, Mark Korth.
“Achieving Joint Commission accreditation is a major step toward maintaining excellence and continually improving the care we provide,” said Deborah Wilson-Ferguson, Interim Director of Laboratory Services at Mercy Medical Center Redding.
The Joint Commission has been evaluating and accrediting laboratory services since 1979. Today, The Joint Commission accredits almost 2,000 organizations providing laboratory services. This represents almost 3,000 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certificate laboratories, including independent reference labs and in vitro fertilization labs, and those connected with other health care organizations such as hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and long-term care facilities.
The Joint Commission’s laboratory standards emphasize the results a laboratory should achieve instead of emphasizing the technical methods of performing testing, and were developed with input from professional laboratory organizations. Joint Commission standards address processes that follow laboratory specimens from the doctor’s order into the laboratory from specimen collection then back to the patient through result reporting, focusing on the provision of high quality, safe laboratory services integrated with patient care. These standards highlight the essential nature of laboratory services on the actual care and service delivery processes that contribute to and support the overall health care delivery system.
-from press release
