Joint Commission Renews Certification for American Fork Hospital

After a thorough accreditation survey last week by the Joint Commission, a body which accredits healthcare organizations across the nation, surveyors announced American Fork Hospital would receive a renewal of its national certification for an additional three years.

“We’re pleased to have undergone a successful and careful survey by the Joint Commission last week,” said Mike Olson, administrator of American Fork Hospital.  “Accreditation through the Joint Commission helps show we’re doing all we can as a hospital to create and maintain an environment where patient safety and sound medical practices are being followed.”

The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 16,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. As an independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare. It maintains modern standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by healthcare organizations and requires hospitals to undergo a comprehensive, unannounced evaluation process to determine the organization’s compliance with these standards and other accreditation or certification requirements. The certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting a broad array of performance standards.

Although certification by the Joint Commission is issued once every three years, the organization’s groups of surveyors arrive at hospitals without prior notice to conduct its surveys.  Surveyors, who conduct surveys over a number of days, conduct a thorough search through hospitals to ensure proper patient safety and treatment standards are being met.  Each of Intermountain Healthcare’s three hospitals in Utah County maintains accreditation by the Joint Commission.