Beebe Healthcare’s awards: Important to know?

At the very bottom of the Beebe Healthcare web homepage is a colorful display of the logos of several national healthcare organizations like the American Heart Association, The Joint Commission, and the Commission on Cancer. If you click on “View All” a display and description is presented of nearly 20 quality awards and accolades, and the national recognition Beebe has earned for its quality and safety improvements efforts. Why is it important to know about these accomplishments?  These Awards & Accolades described on Beebe’s website represent an independent, third-party assessment of the quality and safety of the healthcare services that Beebe provides to its patients. This recognition by these national healthcare organizations is an indication of the strong commitment the  Beebe Healthcare team has made to provide the excellent, safe, and high-quality care that you expect.

What do these awards and accolades really mean? 

Beebe Healthcare has for many years achieved the National Quality Approval of The Joint Commission, the preeminent healthcare accrediting organization that accredits over 22,000 healthcare organizations in the U.S. and in over 100 counties around the world, including approximately 75 percent of the nation’s hospitals. Not all hospitals seek or can achieve the rigorous, independent, external assessment that The Joint Commission provides. Nor do they have to. Accreditation is a voluntary process - only hospitals with a strong board and senior leadership commitment to providing exceptionally high-quality, safe care invite the Joint Commission in for an onsite, unbiased evaluation of the quality and safety of care being provided. Accreditation includes an intensive evaluation of the hospital or healthcare system’s compliance with rigorous national quality and safety standards, and National Patient Safety Goals. Accreditation involves an in-person, onsite survey which is unannounced; the hospital doesn’t know when the surveyors or evaluators will come to the hospital to conduct their assessment of compliance. Accreditation compliance assessments or surveys are conducted by doctors, nurses and engineers who - in addition to their part-time Joint Commission position - also actively work in healthcare settings around the country. Accreditation quality and safety standards are comprehensive. The Joint Commission’s over 250 standards and hundreds of elements of performance cover critically important aspects of patient care like infection prevention and control, the environment of care, and safe medication management to protect patients from medication errors. To become accredited by The Joint Commission, Beebe has had to demonstrate full compliance with all of these standards and accreditation requirements. 

Beebe has not only achieved the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission for the hospital and healthcare system, but it has also achieved numerous other accreditation or recognition awards for critical components of the Beebe Healthcare system: Commission on Cancer accreditation for the Tunnell Cancer Center; NCQA recognition of the Beebe Medical Group Primary Care sites as Patient-Centered Medical Homes; American College of Surgeons awarded verification of Beebe’s Level III Trauma Center; Leapfrog Group award of an “A” Safety Grade; American Heart Association Gold Plus Awards in the areas of heart failure, resuscitation and stroke care; Intersocietal Accreditation Commission awarded accreditation to the Beebe Vein Center; and Beebe is a Baby Friendly hospital, a program launched by the World Health Organization in 1991 to recognize a hospital’s commitment to optimal levels of care for infant feeding, and mother and infant bonding. In addition to seeking Joint Commission accreditation for the hospital and overall healthcare system, Beebe has also achieved certification of its joint replacement program for both hips and knees, spine surgery program, stroke care and heart failure care. 

In summary, it is important to know about these various quality and safety awards and forms of recognition that Beebe Healthcare has earned. Independent, third-party accreditation and recognition programs help healthcare organizations - like Beebe Healthcare – to continuously assess and improve their processes and systems of patient care.

These accreditation and recognition programs also tell the public that an external organization has examined and evaluated the quality and safety of care being provided by the hospital or healthcare system. If the hospital has successfully achieved accreditation, then it has demonstrated compliance with rigorous national quality and safety standards, safe care practices, and performance measurement requirements.

Go to Beebehealthcare.org Awards & Accolades for more information.