WMC Awarded Gold Seal of Approval

By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission‘s national standards for health care quality and safety, Weirton Medical Center has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™.

“We sought accreditation for our organization because we want to demonstrate our commitment to patients’ safety and quality care,” said Weirton Medical Center President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph P. Endrich, M.D. “We view obtaining Joint Commission accreditation as another step toward achieving excellence.”

“Above all, the national standards are intended to stimulate continuous, systematic and organization-wide improvement in an organization’s performance and the outcomes of care,” explained Mark Pelletier, R.N., M.S, executive director, Hospital Programs, Accreditation and Certification Services, The Joint Commission. “The community should be proud that Weirton Medical Center is focusing on the most challenging goal—to continuously raise quality and safety to higher levels.”

The Joint Commission conducted an unannounced, on-site evaluation of Weirton Medical Center in December 2008. The accreditation award recognizes Weirton Medical’s dedication to complying with the Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards on a continuous basis. The Joint Commission evaluation did not include the medical center’s skilled nursing facility, which is inspected and licensed annually the West Virginia Department of Health.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 8,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,800 other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services, among others. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.