Healthcare facilities in the State of West Virginia are required to undergo surveys from the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification (OHFLAC). OHFLAC helps shape healthy environments for patients within healthcare facilities by promoting quality services and high standards of care that exist when facilities are compliant with state licensure rules and federal certification regulations.
Potomac Valley Hospital is proud to have passed their 2019 inspection, with zero documented clinical deficiencies. During the two-day survey, leaders from every department within the hospital met with state surveyors. Leaders were interviewed regarding current departmental and hospital-wide protocols, policies and procedures. Tours of the entire hospital and off-campus facilities were also conducted.
“Our first priority at Potomac Valley Hospital is the safety of our patients. The recent OHFLAC survey showing zero clinical deficiencies validates our commitment to the community and for patient safety,” stated Elaine Geroski, Vice President of Nursing.
The best hospitals aim at becoming “high-reliability organizations,” meaning they provide consistent excellence in quality and safety across all services and this excellence is maintained over long periods of time. Striving to be “high-reliability” is an everlasting journey toward continuous improvement and safety. For hospitals to advance toward high reliability, they need to focus on three key factors: committed leadership, establishing a culture where employees feel safe speaking up, and utilizing frontline staff teams to address process and improvement opportunities. PVH has made these factors a high priority in the last year, and the results are now being validated by regulatory agencies, like OHFLAC.
“Potomac Valley Hospital is continuously evaluating our processes and our facility to ensure we have a superior and excellent environment for our staff and our patients. We are always working to maintain a culture of safety and to provide a level of care that is of the highest quality. It is our mission every single day; and the results of this survey support that,” says Amy Boothe, Chief Operating Officer.
President and CEO, Mark Boucot, who has led the hospital for the last eighteen months, states, “The most important thing for PVH is to always focus on great patient care. PVH is now really taking advantage of the great knowledge-base and clinical experience that comes from the best health system in the region, WVU Medicine. PVH is rapidly assimilating all of the knowledge and evidence based medicine from our great health system, so that we can keep striving for excellence. We’re doing this in the Emergency Department, Surgery, ICU, the inpatient units and in our outpatient units as well. PVH has a great staff and great physicians and is recruiting more great physicians to the hospital. Our goal is to always strive to care for our patients the same way we would if it was for our own family members. We’d want our own family to have excellent care, so that is what we will always strive to achieve for every person. It’s now our mission: to care for people the way we would for our own family members.”