The Joint Commission approves accreditation for McKee Medical Center

LOVELAND, Colo. (Sept. 14, 2009) – McKee Medical Center has received The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™, an honor reserved for hospitals that receive accreditation from the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

McKee earned the designation based on the results of The Joint Commission’s unannounced on-site survey of the hospital June 16-19, 2009.

“We are very pleased with the results of the recent Joint Commission survey in June 2009,” said Christopher Cornue, chief executive officer of McKee Medical Center. “These results further validate the amazing efforts by our caregivers, employees and physicians in focusing on the patient experience and ensuring they have wonderful clinical outcomes.  I continue to be impressed and humbled by the caliber of individuals we have working at McKee and they are consistently making a difference in our patient’s lives.”

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation’s health care through voluntary accreditation. To earn and maintain accreditation, a hospital must undergo an on-site survey by a survey team 18 to 39 months after the previous unannounced survey and demonstrate its adherence to National Patient Safety Goals and standards established by The Joint Commission. The survey teams review the treatment and care provided to patients and evaluate operational processes that impact patient care.

“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 with The Joint Commission. “The community should be proud that McKee is focusing on the most challenging goal — to continuously raise quality and safety to higher levels.”

The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 8,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,800 other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. In addition, The Joint Commission provides certification of disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services.