North Country Hospital the First in Vermont to Receive New Quality-Based Accreditation
North Country Hospital announces the successful completion of its new accreditation process from DNV GL – Healthcare. By earning accreditation, the hospital has demonstrated it meets or exceeds patient safety standards set forth by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“The DNV GL program is consistent with our long-term commitment to quality and patient safety,” says NCH Director of Quality and Patient Safety, Thom Goodwin. “The ability to integrate their quality standards with our clinical and financial processes is a major step forward.”
North Country Hospital has three years from the date of its accreditation to achieve compliance with ISO 9001, the world’s most trusted quality management system used by performance-driven organizations around the world to advance their quality and sustainability objectives.
We have taken an entirely different approach to accreditation, and hospitals are really responding,” says DNV GL – Healthcare CEO Patrick Horine. “Since accreditation is a must-have credential for just about every hospital nationwide, why not make it more valuable, and get more out of it? That’s where ISO 9001 comes into play, and turns the typical get-your-ticket-punched accreditation exercise into a quality transformation.”
DNV GL’s accreditation program, called NIAHO® (Integrated Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations), involves annual hospital surveys – instead of every three years, and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments and to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols. This fits in nicely with North Country’s efforts over the last several years to become a LEAN organization, with the focus always on quality improvement and productivity as well as elimination of waste.
Hospital President & CEO Claudio Fort added, “With our well trained and can-do attitudes of the staff, I congratulate all of our employees on North Country Hospital receiving the accreditation. This isn’t something we prepare for over a week’s time, but is ingrained in the everyday processes and face-to-face encounters with each other, patients and families.”