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HomeNewsArchivesConfusion Reigns over Schneider Medical Center's Reaccreditation

Confusion Reigns over Schneider Medical Center's Reaccreditation

June 30, 2006 – The Schneider Regional Medical Center reported Friday it had been reaccredited, after losing its accreditation earlier in the week, but an official at the accrediting commission said that proclamation is premature.
A release from the facility said, "Schneider Regional Medical Center –including its laboratory -has again been fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) following a rigorous three-day inspection and review of its practices and procedures."
However, a media relations spokeswoman at JCAHO said she could not confirm the reaccreditation.
"They just finished the survey," Kathy Barry-Ipema said. "That report has to come back to central office and be reviewed."
Barry-Ipema said the center was probably a couple of weeks away from getting an official yea or nay on the new accreditation. She said it may be that hospital officials were confident enough with the preliminary indications to say they had received accreditation, but they have not.
Earlier this month it was anybody's guess where the medical center would end up after JCAHO gave Schneider a preliminary denial of accreditation following a visit to the facility last November.
The denial was the result of unfavorable conditions at the laboratory.
At that time, JCAHO spokeswoman Char Hill said the commission would render its final decision by June 27 on whether Schneider would lose the accreditation, which it gained three years ago for the first time, based on the November survey.
Earlier this month, Rodney Miller, Schneider chief executive officer, said rather than appeal the JCAHO decision – if it was unfavorable – he would wait for the reaccreditation survey that was due sometime this year. (See "Schneider Regional to Face Further Accreditation Challenges").
Hospital spokesman Michael Burton said Wednesday that the team had arrived to start the reaccreditation survey. Under the terms of JCAHO accreditation, a survey and reaccredidation must be done every three years.
The hospital attained the JCAHO seal of approval – which is a voluntary program – for the first time in 2003 under Miller's leadership.
But sometime this week, the facility lost its accreditation. That was confirmed late Friday afternoon by Elizabeth Khani at JCAHO. Schneider Regional Medical Center is no longer listed as a certified facility on the JCAHO Web site. Khani said that means "they are currently not accredited."
And according to Barry-Ipema it is unlikely that Schneider will have final word by Wednesday, when they have scheduled a press conference.
Neither Burton, nor Miller, nor hospital general counsel Amos Carty returned phone calls placed Friday afternoon and evening seeking clarification.

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