Southwest Health has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for hospital accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards.
Gold seal accreditation is a symbol of quality awarded organizations with a commitment to providing safe and effective patient care.
Southwest Health voluntarily submits to rigorous, unannounced, on-site surveys, the latest of which was performed in October. During the review, a team of Joint Commission expert surveyors evaluated compliance with hospital standards related to several areas, including emergency management, environment of care, infection prevention and control, leadership, and medication management. Surveyors also conducted on-site observations and interviews.
“Southwest Health is pleased to be once again accredited by the Joint Commission, the premier health care quality accrediting body in the nation,” said Robert Pastor, Southwest Health chief clinical officer. “We are incredibly proud of our staff. They work as a team to develop and implement approaches that offer truly outstanding and continually improving quality care for patients across Southwest Wisconsin.”
The Joint Commission has accredited hospitals for more than 60 years. More than 4,300 hospitals maintain three-year accreditation from the Joint Commission. “Joint Commission accreditation provides hospitals with the processes needed to maintain and improve quality in a variety of areas from the enhancement of staff education to the improvement of daily business operations,” said Mark G. Pelletier, RN, MS, chief operating officer, Division of Accreditation and Certification Operations at the Joint Commission. “We commend Southwest Health for its efforts to become a quality improvement organization.”
The Joint Commission hospital standards are developed in consultation with health care experts and providers, measurement experts, and patients alike. The standards are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help hospitals measure, assess, and continually improve performance.
Southwest Health is southwest Wisconsin’s second largest employer with more than 500 employees, providing a $72 million economic impact on the region. On their hospital campus in Platteville, Southwest Health provides a full range of quality acute care services, including medical and surgical care, emergency and urgent care, orthopedics, women’s health, specialists clinics, an eye care center, a retail pharmacy, and the area’s largest family medical clinic. Also in Platteville, they operate an inpatient and outpatient behavioral health facility, providing a wide range of counseling and other mental health services. In Cuba City, their Epione Pavilion offers long-term skilled nursing care, outpatient rehabilitation, memory care, and a family medical care clinic all under one roof.
