St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for community hospital accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with Joint Commission performance standards. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a health care organization’s commitment to providing safe, high-quality patient care.

Sacred Heart Hospital underwent a rigorous onsite review earlier this year. During the visit, a team of Joint Commission reviewers evaluated compliance with state-of-the-art national standards spanning areas such as emergency management, environment of care, infection prevention and control, leadership effectiveness, and policies and procedures.

The Joint Commission’s standards are developed in consultation with health care experts and providers, measurement experts, and patients. They are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help health care organizations measure, assess and improve performance. The surveyors also conducted onsite observations and interviews.

“As a private accreditor, The Joint Commission surveys health care organizations to protect the public by identifying deficiencies in care and working with those organizations to correct them as quickly and sustainably as possible,” says Mark Pelletier, RN, MS, chief operating officer, Accreditation and Certification Operations, and chief nursing executive, The Joint Commission. “We commend St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital for its continuous quality improvement efforts in patient safety and quality of care.”

"The Joint Commission is the nation's foremost healthcare accrediting agency," said Sacred Heart President Jeff English. "Joint Commission accreditation gives our patients and community confidence that our hospital is meeting or exceeding the highest standards for safety and quality in America. I could not be prouder of our employees, physicians and volunteers for making our ongoing accreditation possible."