HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital Has Restored Full Accreditation Status

HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham once again has full accreditation status from The Joint Commission on Accreditation.

In May, The Joint Commission conducted a routine unannounced onsite visit to the hospital. During the visit, surveyors found existence of a condition which, in The Joint Commission's view, posed a threat to patients or other individuals served. As a result, the hospital's accreditation decision was changed to "Preliminary Denial of Accreditation".

The areas of concern were "documentation" and "the recording of processes".

At the time of the onsite visit, the hospital submitted a plan to the surveyors designed to address the areas of concern.

The Joint Commission conducted another on-site survey on August 1. Following that survey, the hospital's full accreditation was restored.

Dr. Mark Pelletier, chief operating officer for the Division of Accreditation and Certification Operations for The Joint Commission, said, "We commend St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital for its efforts to become a quality improvement organization."

"St. Anthony's is pleased to receive full accreditation from The Joint Commission, the premier health care quality improvement and accrediting body in the nation," added Theresa Rutherford, President and CEO of St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital. "Our colleagues continue to work together to develop and implement approaches that have the potential to improve care for the patients in our community."

St. Anthony's Home Care program remained accredited in good standing.