Special to the Transcript

Norman Regional Hospital has earned full accreditation from a national organization charged with monitoring healthcare organizations.

Surveyors from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or JCAHO visited the hospital and its affiliates in January to evaluate the hospital’s compliance with national standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care.

“This prestigious recognition is a direct result of our staff’s diligence, professionalism and commitment to providing the highest level of care for our patients and their families,” said Norman Regional President and CEO David Whitaker.

“We are committed to ensuring that Norman Regional remains the best place to receive care and provide care.”

Joint Commission standards address an organization’s level of performance in key functional areas such as patient rights, patient treatment and infection control.

The standards focus not simply on an organization’s ability to provide safe, high-quality care, but o nits actual performance as well. Standards set forth performance expectations for activities that affect the safety and quality of patient care.

According to the Joint Commission, healthcare organizations that do the right things and do them well will have better patient outcomes.

The Joint Commission develops its standards in consultation with healthcare experts, providers, measurement experts, purchasers and consumers.

“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,” said Darlene Christiansen, executive director, Hospital Accreditation Program, Joint Commission.

“The community should be proud that Norman Regional is focusing on the most challenging goal-to continuously raise quality and safety to higher levels.”
Hospitals are evaluated at least every three years for the accreditation.

This year was the first for Norman Regional to experience the commission’s new “tracer” evaluation in which surveyors followed specific patients throughout their hospital stays to evaluate the actual level of care they received.

Hospital staff did not have advance notice of the exact date when the surveyors would arrive- a practice that is designed to ensure constant readiness from healthcare facilities.

In addition to ensuring that the hospital provides a high level of patient care, accreditation form the Joint Commission also certifies the hospital for Medicare reimbursement and is recognized by private insurers.

For more information about Norman Regional, visit www.normanregional.com.

For more information about Joint Commission, visit www.jointcommission.org.