News

Prairie du Chien, WI – Crossing Rivers Health has once again earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Laboratory Services Accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards. The Gold Seal of Approval® is a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to providing safe and effective patient care.

In October of 2018, Crossing Rivers Health’s Laboratory Department underwent a rigorous onsite survey. During the review, a Joint Commission expert surveyor evaluated compliance with laboratory standards related to several areas, including document and process control, healthcare-associated conditions, risk reduction, and staff qualifications and competency. The surveyor also conducted onsite observations and interviews.

Crossing Rivers Health joins the more than 1,500 organizations, including laboratories in hospitals, reference labs, blood transfusion and donor centers, public health laboratories, and point-of-care test sites, currently maintain Laboratory Services Accreditation from The Joint Commission. The Joint Commission has accredited hospital laboratory services since 1979.

“Our Laboratory team, including scientists, technicians and assistants, perform over 167,000 tests each year,” said Barb Welsch, Director of Laboratory Services at Crossing Rivers Health. Welsch added, “We pride ourselves in providing timely, high quality service to our healthcare providers and our patients. The Joint Commission accreditation affirms the high professional standards that our patients may expect.”

“Joint Commission accreditation provides laboratories with the processes needed to improve in a variety of areas from specimen collection to result reporting,” said Heather Hurley, executive director of Laboratory Business Development, The Joint Commission. “We commend Crossing Rivers Health for its efforts to have laboratory services contribute and support the overall health care delivery system.”

“Crossing Rivers Health is pleased to receive Laboratory accreditation from The Joint Commission,” shared Julia Nelson, Chief Quality Officer at Crossing Rivers Health. “Pathologists and other laboratory staff continue to work together to develop and implement approaches and strategies that have the potential to improve care for the patients in our community.”

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

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Crossing Rivers Health

Established in 1957, Crossing Rivers Health is a 25 bed Critical Access Hospital which provides exceptional health care by extraordinary people whose highest priority is your lifetime of wellness. Crossing Rivers Health offers the people of Southwest Wisconsin and Northeast Iowa access to more than 100 services under the roof of a state-of-the-art Medical Center and two primary care clinics.

The Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.