BID Needham Gets Perfect Accreditation Review

BIDMC Contact: Margaret Pantridge
Phone: 781-453-3891
Email: mpantridge@bidneedham.org

A national health care authority has reaccredited Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham, making it one of a handful reviewed nationwide that achieved a perfect survey. The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations - an independent authority that accredits nearly 6,000 hospitals nationwide -- found no "requirements for improvement" at BID-Needham. Similar perfect survey results occurred at only 3 percent of more than 1,500 hospitals the commission surveyed for accreditation between January 2005 and October 2005. A perfect survey means that the hospital met all of the commission's 500 rigorous standards for performance. The standards comprise thousands of individual elements of performance covering everything from patient care to safety, privacy and facilities. "The credit belongs to our nurses, physicians, employees and volunteers, who worked incredibly hard to virtually remake the hospital in many areas," said Jeffrey H. Liebman, president and chief executive officer. "The results also reflect the high level of support we get from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center." The Needham hospital's achievement is very rare. Bruce Biller, M.D., a physician who conducted commission surveys for 20 years and consulted with the Needham hospital, said that to his knowledge, only two other hospitals in Massachusetts have achieved perfect surveys in the past two years. They are Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard University Health Services, which were both reviewed in 2004. "BID-Needham's results are all the more remarkable because it is a community hospital," Biller said. "This achievement is almost unheard of across the country." During its October survey, BID-Needham also scored 100 percent in its adherence to the National Patient Safety Goals. The Commission sets 10 goals annually to ensure that hospitals are engaged in continuous improvement in areas such as patient identification, medication management and infection control.