St. Maries, ID, September 29, 2016 — Benewah Community Hospital announces the successful completion of its new accreditation process from DNV GL – Healthcare.

By earning accreditation, BCH has demonstrated it meets or exceeds patient safety standards set forth by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. DNV GL’s accreditation program is the only one to integrate the ISO 9001 Quality Management System with the Medicare Conditions of Participation.

BCH has three years from the date of its accreditation to achieve compliance with ISO 9001, the world’s most trusted quality management system used by performance-driven organizations around the world to advance their quality and sustainability objectives.

“We have taken an entirely different approach to accreditation, and hospitals are really responding,” says DNV GL – Healthcare CEO Patrick Horine. “Since accreditation is a must-have credential for just about every hospital in this country, why not make it more valuable, and get more out of it? That’s where ISO 9001 comes into play, and turns the typical get-your-ticket-punched accreditation exercise into a quality transformation.”

DNV GL’s accreditation program, called NIAHO^® (Integrated Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), involves annual hospital surveys – instead of every three years – and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments and to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols.

About DNV GL – Healthcare

DNV GL is a world-leading certification body. We help businesses assure the performance of their organizations, products, people, facilities and supply chains through certification, verification, assessment, and training services.

Within healthcare, we help our customers achieve excellence by improving quality and patient safety through hospital accreditation, managing infection risk, management system certification and training.

The DNV GL Group operates in more than 100 countries. Our 16,000 professionals are dedicated to helping our customers make the world safer, smarter and greener.

For more information about DNV GL hospital accreditation, visit www.dnvglhealthcare.com.

Jordon received her Bachelors of Science in Community Health with a minor in Communications from Eastern Washington University in 2013. She has been with BCH since May of 2015 and looks forward to continuing health education classes at the hospital. She is passionate about keeping communities healthy and preventing chronic diseases. She loves meeting new people in the community and helping those who are in need! If you want to learn more, please contact her at 245-7605.

Some of the Health Education services offered are:

• Tobacco Cessation
• Diabetes Prevention
• Nutrition Education
• Cardiac Education classes
• Fall Prevention

***The National Diabetes Prevention Program will soon be launching**