Critical Access Hospital Accreditation

By earning accreditation, Helen Newberry Joy Hospital has demonstrated it meets or exceeds patient safety standards (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.  In healthcare they are transformative, driving toward consistency, improvement and patient satisfaction.

“The DNV GL program is consistent with our long-term commitment to quality and patient safety,” says Hunter Nostrant, CEO. “The ability to integrate ISO 9001 quality standards with our clinical and financial processes is a major step forward.”

Kena Nicholson, HNJH Quality and Accreditation Manager, explains, “Safety, quality and the patient experience are our priorities, and this accreditation shows that we are taking great care of our patients while keeping up with industry standards.”

“We have taken an entirely different approach to accreditation, and hospitals are really responding,” says DNV GL - Healthcare CEO Patrick Horine. “Since accreditation is a must-have credential for just about every hospital in this country, why not make it more valuable, and get more out of it? That’s where ISO 9001 comes into play, and turns the typical get-your-ticket-punched accreditation exercise into a quality transformation.”

DNV GL’s accreditation program, called NIAHO® (Integrated Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), involves annual hospital surveys – instead of every three years – and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments and to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols. DNV GL is a world-leading certification body, operating in more than 100 countries.