Augusta, Ga. (September 16, 2024) – Piedmont Augusta Hospital has been awarded by DNV full certification to the ISO 9001 Quality Management System.
“Quality and safety are at the core and focus of everything we do at Piedmont Augusta, and the ISO 9001 certification affirms that,” says Lily Henson, CEO of Piedmont’s Augusta Hub. “This certification shows that we have established failsafe systems and processes to care for our patients. The work involved in accomplishing this goal is immense, and I’m extremely proud of our team for their day-to-day commitment to high-quality care.”
ISO 9001 is the most widely-accepted quality management system in use around the world, and is quickly gaining acceptance among US healthcare providers as a foundation for their quality and patient safety programs.
Piedmont Augusta has worked hard to achieve this certification, and they have done so with unwavering commitment from their top leadership to make their hospital the best it can be,” says Kelly Proctor, President of DNV Healthcare USA Inc. “ISO 9001 certification isn’t just an award or trophy for something you’ve done, it’s public evidence that you are at the top of your game with an obvious plan in place to make excellence an everyday objective.”
ISO 9001 brings science to the art of caregiving; it helps to standardize processes around things that are proven to work, by the people doing the work, thus empowering frontline workers while creating an environment of predictability for the entire organization. The ultimate impact of ISO 9001 within hospitals is the reduction or elimination of variation, so that critical work processes are done consistently and the “best ideas” aren’t held by one person or one department, but are ingrained in the organization itself.
Businesses that implement ISO 9001 do so for both the internal and external benefits. Internally it helps staff create clear and consistent processes of patient care, and ensure that progress is constantly being made toward specific quality objectives. Externally, it tells the public, as well as insurers and regulatory agencies, that the hospital is not only talking about quality, but is pursuing it with discipline and transparency.