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JCAHO Requirements Successfully
Implemented For One Day
Brief episode of properly closed fire doors, hiding
of expired guaiac cards happens to occur on day of JCAHO accreditation
survey
LOUISVILLE, KY--Officials at Harmona Healthcare,
one of the nation's largest managed care providers and healthcare insurers,
announced Thursday that for one day last month, the Quality Management
guidelines set forth by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) were successfully implemented.
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Harmona Healthcare, Louisville,
KY
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In a remarkable coincidence, that same day was also
noted by observers to be the very day of the JCAHO accreditation visit
to the medical center.
"What are that chances of that happening?!"
said Harmona Spokesperson Richard Leike at Thursday's press conference
and question-and-answer session in the Harmona lobby.
JCAHO, the national accrediting body for hospitals
and other health care delivery organizations, requires a full accreditation
survey at most healthcare institutions at least every three years. During
these site visits, JCAHO sends a physician, an administrator, and one
other health care specialist, usually a nurse, to evaluate the facility.
Jean Graham, a staff LVN in Harmona's Outpatient
Module 8C, expressed surprise regarding the timing of JCAHO's visit.
"Well, it just so happened that my supervisor
had JUST come around closing all the fire doors, which we always prop
open, and then she went in all the exam rooms and put all the expired
guaiac cards away, and just generally got things organized for the first
time in the eighteen months I've been here," noted Graham. "She
even checked all the floor stock medications to see if they were all there
and if they were still good. No one EVER does that. Plus, she threw out
all the ashtrays in the waiting rooms!"
"Then, wouldn't you know it, just a few hours
later, JCAHO showed up to do their survey. Call it luck or whatever, but
that's a quinky-dink if I ever saw one!"
Graham also noted that, upon the departure of the
accreditation team, the fire doors were quickly reopened, and the expired
guaiac cards were placed back into the exam rooms.
"I haven't even seen my supervisor since
then, and that was more than a month ago," she recalled.
JCAHO's next accreditation survey at Harmona is scheduled
for 2003.
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