HealthNet Lab Awarded Accreditation from the Joint Commission
10/1/2008
By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety, HealthNet, Inc. has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™ for its laboratory services.
“We continually strive to improve the quality of our services, and meeting The Joint Commission’s rigorous national standards is an important recognition of our efforts,” says Booker Thomas, HealthNet president and CEO. The Joint Commission evaluated the laboratory’s performance in complying with nearly 300 standards related to quality control, safety, infection control, leadership, management of human resources, and management of information, ongoing performance improvement activities and other issues.
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission is dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation’s health care through voluntary accreditation.
“The accreditation process helps promote continuous, systematic and organization-wide improvement in health care organizations,” says Margaret Peck, executive director, Laboratory Accreditation Program, The Joint Commission. “Achieving accreditation demonstrates (name of organization’s) commitment to providing high quality and safe services.”
Thomas says efforts to improve don’t stop when The Joint Commission survey is over. “Meeting the standards and achieving excellence is a continuous process,” he says. “No matter how well we did today, we continue to strive to do better tomorrow.”
HealthNet has been consecutively reaccredited by the Joint Commission since 1997. For over 40 years, HealthNet has been a mainstay in the Indianapolis community. Through its network of five community-based health centers, an OB/GYN care center, a pediatric and adolescent care center, and eight school-based clinics, HealthNet annually serves over 42,000 individuals and families. Many of them are uninsured or underinsured and live below the federal poverty level.
HealthNet services include: primary and preventive health care; OB-GYN support and coaching for expectant mothers; Healthy Families and Better Indy Babies; dental services; Homeless Initiative Program; counseling, outreach and social service programs. HealthNet’s health centers include Martindale-Brightwood Health & Dental Center, People’s Health & Dental Center, Southeast Health & Dental Center, Southwest Health Center, Southwest OB/GYN Annex, Barrington Health Center, the Care Center at the Tower and the Pediatric and Adolescent Care Center.