LAC+USC Medical Center Awarded Full Accreditation

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 20 Feb 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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In a singular tribute to its staff and to clinical faculty at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the LAC+USC Medical Center has received the maximum full accreditation by the Joint Commission after an unannounced hospital inspection. The accreditation survey, designed to measure a wide range of patient care criteria, took place the week of January 28th.

A team of 10 surveyors-including physicians, hospital administrators and nursing directors- conducted the survey on behalf of the Joint Commission. Adding to the degree of scrutiny, the survey team itself was being observed by a Joint Commission federal liaison to ensure the integrity of the survey. Surveyors visited all components of the medical center operations including Women and Children's Hospital, the outpatient department and the inpatient psychiatric services at the Ingleside and Augustus F. Hawkins sites.

During this same period, an additional team of Joint Commission surveyors also surveyed LAC+USC Healthcare Network's three Comprehensive Health Centers: El Monte, H. Claude Hudson and Roybal. Each center also received full accreditation.

LAC+USC Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Stephanie Hall, M.D., said the surveyors were specifically impressed with the quality of service the Network provides, given the challenges of working in a public hospital system.

"The surveyors were highly complimentary of our medical staff and medical staff leadership," says Hall, who is also assistant dean at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "The quality of patient care delivered here was clearly evident. We couldn't have achieved our successful outcome without the passionate commitment of all of our staff."

Hall has managed three other surveys for the LAC+USC Health Care Network, two of which yielded the highest scores ever for LAC+USC Medical Center. It was last accredited in May of 2005.

The facility is staffed by several hundred physicians and nearly 1,000 residents from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, a long-term partner at the facility since it opened in 1933.

"We are proud of this partnership, which has served the health care needs of our community for more than a century," says Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen Puliafito. "We salute our colleagues at the Department of Health Services and the County of Los Angeles, as well as the Board of Supervisors. We look forward to celebrating with them later this year as we jointly open a new state-of-the-art hospital replacement facility that will improve our ability to offer the highest standard of medical care to all members of our community without regard to their ability to pay."

The Joint Commission accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations. Its accreditation is a nationwide seal of approval that indicates a hospital meets high performance standards. Joint Commission accreditation helps hospitals improve their performance, raise the level of patient care, and demonstrate accountability in the rapidly changing health care marketplace.

The LAC+USC Medical Center is among the largest academic teaching institutions in the nation and hosts 51 ACGME fully accredited physician training programs. The main General Hospital measures 1.2 million square feet and spans 19 floors.

The medical center includes a Level I Trauma Center and Certified Burn Center serving the San Gabriel Valley, and the East, Metro and South areas of Los Angeles, representing a population of nearly seven million people.

http://healthnews.usc.edu