OCR Text |
Show Allen Memorial Hospital Gains Joint Commission Accreditation Allen Memorial Hospital has been accredited by the Joint Commission on Accredi- ' tation of Hospitals (JCAH) for a two year period, according to information received this week. This accreditation is the result of an on-site survey made by field representatives of the Joint Commission's Hospilal Accreditation Program. Pro-gram. Accreditation indicates this facility has chosen to operate according to standards set by JCAH and that the facility has. in the main, met these standards. The standards, published as the Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, set forth optimal achievable goals of excellence against which a facility can measure itself and be measured mea-sured by the JCAH survey team. According to their performance, hospitals can be accredited for either a one or two year period. Allen Memorial Hospital is one of about 5,300 genral hospitals throughout the United Uni-ted States that have earned this recognition. There are about 7,400 hospitals in (he U.S. The Joint Commission's accreditation surveys are voluntary. vol-untary. It is not legally necessary for a hospital to be accredited, but health care facilities have sought accreditation accredi-tation because it represents a benchmark of quality that is higher than governmental licensure alone. The chief aim of the Hospital Accreditation Program, one of four such programs under the JCAH umbrella, is to help hospitals in their pursuit of excellence and thereby provide a higher quality of care to patients. The program also seeks to recognize, recog-nize, and to identify for the public, those facilities which meet its standards. The Joint Commission began be-gan in 1918 under the auspices of the American College of Surgeons. It was incorporated in 1951 with the support of its present member organiza- ' tions: the American College of Surgeons, the American College Coll-ege of Physicians, the American Ameri-can Hospital Association, and the American Medical Association. Associ-ation. JCAH is a Chicago-based, Chicago-based, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization. In addition add-ition to hospitals, it has programs for the accreditation of long term care facilities, psychiatric facilities, and facilities facil-ities for the mentally retarded. |