Owensboro Health Accreditation Department Celebrates World Accreditation Day

In observance of World Accreditation Day this month, Owensboro Health’s accreditation department is under the spotlight for its relentless efforts to ensure continuous compliance and readiness, reinforcing its commitment to high-quality patient care and safety. Led by Director Ashley Denton and Manager Skyler Hughes, the accreditation team at Owensboro Health has grown significantly, expanding its expertise and operational scope to include vital healthcare services.

We are focused on continuous readiness or continuous compliance, Hughes explains, detailing the department's divisions, which encompass Infection Prevention, Clinical Program Specialists overseeing a range of healthcare programs from sepsis and stroke to pediatrics, and the broader hospital accreditation, ensuring compliance with Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) standards. This team approach ensures the institution is always patient-ready, beyond the routine evaluations conducted every three years by the Joint Commission.

The department prides itself on its specialized team members, including policy and procedure expert Matt Wilson and accreditation and regulatory specialist Tiffany Jernigan, who plays a crucial role in visual compliance checks. Nicole Huff, another dedicated accreditation and regulatory specialist, focuses on keeping the team abreast of the ever-evolving standards and regulations, ensuring the hospital’s practices are always compliant and up to date.

A notable achievement for the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital accreditation team is that the entire department earned the Healthcare Accreditation Certified Professional-CMS certification. This recognition underscores their mastery of a broad range of accreditation standards and emphasizes their commitment to ensuring that every facet of patient care meets or exceeds established guidelines.

“This certification demonstrates that our team has expertise in those accreditation standards,” Hughes notes. Highlighting the extensive impact of accreditation, Hughes points out that it touches every part of the hospital’s operations, from patient identification to implementing various quality projects.

The team's approach to continuous improvement is grounded in a commitment to patient care and community well-being and a strong belief in teamwork and collaborative problem-solving. Addressing potential areas for improvement is seen as an opportunity to enhance service quality before any incident occurs.

Reflecting on the personal significance of her role and working in a not particularly well-known department, Hughes shares, 

“I can say that if someone had told me as a brand new nurse, I would work in accreditation and love it, I would have absolutely laughed at them, but I cannot imagine being anywhere else” 

Her journey underscores the dedication driving the accreditation department’s efforts, ensuring Owensboro Health remains a beacon of quality and safety in healthcare.