Greater Regional Medical Center (GRMC) announced the successful completion of its new accreditation process from DNV GL-Healthcare. By earning accreditation, GRMC has demonstrated it meets or exceeds patient-safety standards and conditions of participation set forth by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. DNV GL’s accreditation program is the only one to integrate the ISO 9001 Quality Management System with the Medicare conditions of participation.
“The DNV GL-Healthcare accreditation program reaffirms our long-term commitment and dedication to delivering high-quality care and service to our patients,” said Monte Neitzel, CEO. “GRMC will be working to integrate the ISO 9001 quality standards with our clinical and financial processes during the first three years of accreditation.”
GRMC 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 voluntarily chosen to join the DNV GL-Healthcare accreditation program to move our organization forward to ensure quality patient care and safety,” Neitzel said. “The DNV GL accreditation program involves annual hospital surveys – instead of every five years by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals – and encourages our team to share information and work together across departments to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols. Every department contributes to our success and our survey validated that. This is a win for GRMC, our patients and our community.”
Accreditation directly impacts the quality of care because during the accreditation process, the survey addresses how the hospital treats diseases, stores medications, allocates nursing and other staff and conducts billing.
“We found the surveyor’s interactions with our staff more educational and less confrontational,” said Amanda Mohr, chief nursing officer. “The surveyors helped us focus on what we want to accomplish and will hold us accountable to ensure that our processes are well planned and managed, that we conduct quality measurements and demonstrate continued improvement.”
GRMC joins Iowa Specialty Hospitals in Belmond and Clarion as the only critical access hospitals accredited by DNV GL-Healthcare in Iowa. Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines is the other hospital currently accredited. Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Sioux City and Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge are DNV GL-Healthcare-accredited in primary stroke care.
To learn more about GRMC, visit www.greaterregional.org. To learn more about DNV GL-healthcare accreditation, visit www.dnvglhealthcare.com.