News Release

April 7, 2010

Contact: Chris DeFrancesco, 860-679-3914
e-mail: cdefrancesco@uchc.edu

UConn Health Center Earns Quality Marks

Joint Commission Accreditation for John Dempsey Hospital, Behavioral Health

FARMINGTON, CONN. – The University of Connecticut Health Center has earned a Gold Seal of Approval™ for John Dempsey Hospital, including its inpatient behavioral health services, after recent site visits by The Joint Commission, a national hospital accrediting body.

"Accreditation for our organization demonstrates our commitment to patients’ safety and high-quality care," says Dr. Cato T. Laurencin, vice president for health affairs, dean of the UConn School of Medicine, and CEO of the UConn Health Center. "We have an outstanding Health Center with outstanding people. Joint Commission accreditation helps affirm this 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," says Mark Pelletier, The Joint Commission’s executive director of hospital programs, accreditation and certification services. "The community should be proud that the UConn Health 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 John Dempsey Hospital in December. The accreditation award recognizes the Health Center’s dedication to complying with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards on a continuous basis.

"We have excellent clinicians, staff and administrators throughout the Health Center who have remained completely focused and proactive about safety issues," says Dr. Mike Summerer, hospital director. "This latest quality acknowledgement is a result of their work and dedication. It’s a credit to our Department of Quality Programs. This has been, and will continue to be, a team effort."

The Joint Commission’s Quality Report for the Health Center is available at http://www.qualitycheck.org/qualityreport.aspx?hcoid=5667.

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 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including hospitals, home care organizations, and other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. In addition, The Joint Commission provides certification of disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. More information is available at www.jointcommission.org.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

Note: News professionals are invited to visit the UConn Health Today news page (http://today.uchc.edu) for regularly updated news and feature stories, photos and media stories. News releases are archived at http://today.uchc.edu/newsreleases/2014. UConn Health news and information is also available on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.