Congratulations!

As you know, NOCHS made a commitment three years ago to improve our quality by way of employing better metrics to track and benchmark our care, as well as improving our processes and procedures for delivering care throughout our system – from the hospital setting to our extended care services. Our goal was to not only improve outcomes and patient satisfaction but also to move ourselves toward more proactive, collaborative and meaningful accreditation oversight.


Our success, based on hard work and determination during the past three years, allowed us to realize that goal earlier this year when we made the move from The Joint Commission to new, emerging accreditation agencies called Det Norske Veritas Healthcare (DNV) for the hospital and Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP) for our home care services. More than 200 hospitals across the country have chosen this new quality-based accreditation program from DNV including some close to home -- Holland Hospital, Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital and Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. We are in good company with this decision.

I am pleased to announce that, this week, we received notice from DNV that North Ottawa Community Hospital was awarded full accreditation for a three-year term effective February 2, 2011. While we are waiting for the final report from CHAP, its survey team members indicated they will be recommending full accreditation for our Home Care division for three years as well.

Our experience with both DNV and CHAP accrediting organizations was very positive. Our staff found the surveyors to be educational, collaborative and complimentary. The surveyors indicated they were impressed by the staff’s performance, our quality of care and, in particular, our attention to customer service and safety. Although both DNV and CHAP identified areas for improvement (as is the norm with any and all institutions), they commended us on the significantly few number of findings. Hospitals can typically expect 20+ findings during an initial survey from DNV, but we received only eight (8). In Home Care Nursing received zero citations. These are both note worthy accomplishments.

We have notified The Joint Commission of our intent to terminate our accreditation contract. They have received that notice and responded by letting us know that our accreditation with The Joint Commission will remain in effect until June 24th, 2011. So, I guess you could say we are dually accredited.

DNV and CHAP are more than new accreditation programs for our organization. They are catalysts for our ongoing commitment to patient safety and clinical quality. The ability to make this transition marks an important milestone in our journey toward quality and customer service excellence. It is, quite literally, a win-win-win situation for NOCHS, our patients and our community.

Congratulations to everyone on this significant achievement!

Shelleye Yaklin
President and CEO
North Ottawa Community Health System