For more information contact:
John Hofer
Director of Marketing
715-735-4200, ext. 3116
jhofer@bamc.org

(Marinette, Wis.) – Bay Area Medical Center has recently earned the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s Gold Seal of Approval™ and full accreditation.

Founded in 1951, the Joint Commission is the largest health care accrediting body and is dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation's health care.

The Joint Commission granted BAMC full accreditation after a recent unannounced, on-site survey that assessed the hospital’s compliance with state-of-the-art national standards for health care quality and safety.

"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 Darlene Christiansen, executive director, Hospital Accreditation Program, Joint Commission.

“Our ongoing compliance with Joint Commission shows our commitment to continuous improvement and delivering safe, high-quality care,” said David Olson, president & CEO of BAMC. “It’s about always striving for excellence.”

As part of the accreditation, BAMC was recognized in the areas of heart failure and pneumonia care for excelling in performance nationwide and statewide above most accredited organizations.

Compared to other Joint Commission accredited organizations, BAMC received a high score for overall quality of care provided to heart failure patients. This included tracking the percentage of heart failure patients who received specific discharge instructions such as information about their condition and care when they left the hospital.

BAMC stresses patient education about medicines, diet, activities, and signs to watch for in order to prevent further hospitalization.

Bay Area Medical Center’s performance on pneumonia care was also noted above the performance of most accredited organizations. This included tracking blood cultures to test for the type of infection, giving the correct antibiotic within an appropriate timeframe, measuring the amount of oxygen in the blood, and screening patients 65 years or older and vaccinating them to prevent pneumonia.

During the survey process, the Joint Commission focused heavily on quality and patient safety standards, including medication use, infection control, surgery and anesthesia, transfusions, restraint and seclusion, staffing and staff competence, fire safety, medical equipment, emergency management and security.

Compliance with these standards is evaluated through a “tracer” process in which on-site surveyors follow a number of patients through the organization’s entire care process. Staff involvement was vital to the on-site survey because of the focus and observation of patient care.

“I’m proud of our staff and physicians for continuously striving for this achievement,” said Olson. "In addition, they appreciate the educational aspect of the survey and the opportunity to interact with the team of surveyors."

Olson notes that ongoing compliance with Joint Commission standards results in sound management practices in the day-to-day delivery of quality and safe care. It also serves as an independent audit for BAMC to use as continuous quality improvement.

Accreditation is valid for up to 39 months, but the Joint Commission can shorten or lengthen the cycle and conduct an unannounced audit at any time. Previously this was done once every three years.

“Our efforts to maintain a constant state of survey readiness is beneficial to the community,” said Olson. “It means we are always striving to provide top-quality care and improve the safety of our patients every day.”