Reedsburg Area Medical Center Health

We achieved The Gold Seal of Approval® from The Joint Commission… What does this mean?

What is the Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval®?

A nationally recognized distinction voluntarily earned by a select set of healthcare providers. An organization that achieves The Gold Seal of Approval® shows its commitment to holding itself accountable to a high bar for quality and safety for those they serve.

How does an organization earn the Gold Seal of Approval® from The Joint Commission? Specially trained healthcare professionals who are experts in their fields have visited this organization to assess their compliance with a rigorous set of Joint Commission performance standards. The standards focus on important patient, individual, or resident care and organization functions identified as essential to providing safe, high-quality care. The standards are developed with input from healthcare professionals, providers, subject matter experts, consumers, and government agencies. Upon demonstrating they have successfully met the full set of relevant performance standards for their setting of care, The Gold Seal of Approval will be awarded.

Who is the Joint Commission?

The Joint Commission is the nation’s leading and most widely recognized healthcare performance improvement organization. Our vision is that all people always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings. We do this by setting quality standards, evaluating an organization’s performance, and providing an educative experience designed to foster continuous improvement. Today we’ve grown to accredit and certify more than 22,000 healthcare programs worldwide.

During the review an organization is evaluated to determine if they have processes and systems in place to, for example:

• provide a safe environment for care
• educate patients about the risks and options for diagnosis and treatment
• protect patient rights, including privacy rights
• protect patients against infection
• plan for emergency situations

Reedsburg Area Medical Center focuses its quality efforts around national priorities. The following organizations provide guidelines that form the backbone of the work we carry out to help ensure our patients receive quality care.

• WHA Checkpoint:  Checkpoint gives a snapshot of Wisconsin hospitals' performance on important patient safety measures & key areas. 
• The Joint Commission: Quality Report | QualityCheck.org
• CMS Hospital Compare: Find Healthcare Providers: Compare Care Near You | Medicare
• Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality: WCHQ Report

If you would like to talk with someone about your experience, positive or negative, we encourage you to do the following:

• Ask to speak with the Director of the department.
• Ask to speak to the Director of Customer Experience.
• Share your comments on a patient satisfaction survey.

Reporting a patient safety event or a quality concern about a health care organization:

• Contact the Joint Commission  click this link: Report a Patient Safety Event
• If you are a Medicare beneficiary you can contact Livanta LLC at 1-888-     524 9900, TTU 1-888-985-8775 

Special Types:

• Mammography complaint – Medical Imaging needs to be selected as the location of the event so that the Medical Imaging director will be notified to investigate the event.

• Civil Rights/Discrimination complaint - For a patient/family complaint related to their belief that s/he has been treated differently (discriminated against) because of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex (including sex stereotyping and gender identity), or religion will be referred to Office for Civil Rights at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/filing-with-ocr/ for filing instructions.