Glens Falls Hospital has been awarded full certification to the ISO 9001, a widely-accepted quality management system of DNV Healthcare USA Inc.
“Glens Falls Hospital is dedicated to providing the safest and most effective healthcare services possible,” said Paul Scimeca, interim president and CEO of Glens Falls Hospital. “ISO 9001 certification not only reflects that mission but helps to empower it. The certificate is just a piece of paper, but the effort required to achieve it fundamentally transforms the way we do business. ISO 9001 is ideally suited to the complex, people-intensive challenges of running a hospital.”
“Glens Falls Hospital has worked hard to achieve this certification, and they have done so with unwavering commitment from their top leadership to make their hospital the best it can be,” says Patrick Horine, president of DNV Healthcare USA Inc. “ISO 9001 certification isn’t just an award or trophy for something you’ve done. It is public evidence that you are at the top of your game with an obvious plan in place to make excellence an everyday objective.”
DNV Healthcare USA said its certification is quickly gaining acceptance among U.S. healthcare providers as a foundation for quality service and patient safety programs.
According to the company, ISO 9001 brings science to the art of caregiving. It helps to standardize processes around things that are proven to work, by the people doing the work, thus empowering frontline workers while creating an environment of predictability for the entire organization. The ultimate impact of ISO 9001 within hospitals is the reduction or elimination of variation, so that critical work processes are done consistently and the “best ideas” aren’t held by one person or one department but are ingrained in the organization itself.
Businesses that implement ISO 9001 do so for both the internal and external benefits. Internally it helps staff create clear and consistent processes of patient care and ensure that progress is constantly being made toward specific quality objectives, the company said. Externally, it tells the public, as well as insurers and regulatory agencies, that the hospital is not only talking about quality, but is pursuing it with discipline and transparency.
“ISO 9001 is like sheet music for an orchestra. It gets everyone on the same page and helps us achieve our objectives,” said Hillary Alycon, Glens Falls Hospital’s director of quality management and infection prevention.
Glens Falls Hospital, a member of the Albany Med Health System, maintains a service area that spans 6,000 square miles across five diverse counties. Founded in 1897, it operates an advanced health care delivery system featuring 20 regional facilities.
The main hospital campus is home to the C.R. Wood Cancer Center, the Joyce Stock Snuggery birthing center, the Breast Center and a chronic wound healing center. GFH is a not-for-profit organization and the largest employer in New York’s Adirondack region, with over 2,300 employees and a medical staff of over 550 providers.
For more information visit www.GlensFallsHospital.org.