Quality & Safety
Our Commitment to Quality
Whether you need a routine checkup or a more involved health procedure, you want to know you can access the care you need, close to home. That’s our commitment to you: At West Tennessee Healthcare, we are working to continually improve the services we provide to ensure you have access to exceptional, advanced care when you need it most.
What Our Commitment to Quality Means for You
If you’ve ever read through the awards and accreditations a hospital or medical practice has received, you may have wondered, “What’s in it for me?” That’s a great question—and one we think is important to answer.
When it comes to making sure our patients receive quality care, our effort is two-fold. There are some certifications and accreditations that we seek and maintain as required to operate a health system in Tennessee and in the United States. Those are designed to help ensure patients receive a basic level of care that’s safe and follows best practices.
But we’re also committed to taking steps beyond that. Our providers and administrators work for and seek out designations and awards that demonstrate the high quality of the care we provide. They represent a journey we voluntarily take to provide our patients and their families with truly exceptional care.
Understanding Quality Designations
We are accredited by The Joint Commission, which is a nationally recognized independent evaluator of quality for hospitals across the nation. What does that mean, though?
This accreditation is required, and it acknowledges that West Tennessee Healthcare facilities and providers meet strict standards for quality of care and patient safety. Similarly, we are also accredited by the College of American Pathologists and the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies.
Beyond those required accreditations, though, we’ve also sought out designations from a number of organizations related to the services we provide.
These designations, which come in the form of accreditations, certifications, and quality registries and programs, aren’t required—consider them the “honors” version of a regular school class. We sought out extra designation to show that we’re providing the best possible care.
Partnering to Provide the Best Possible Care
Medical care has grown by leaps and bounds in the past century. Much of the innovation that helps improve health care comes through multiple health organizations working together for a bigger cause.
That’s why we believe it’s important to partner and team up with other organizations to keep health care moving forward.
We are a Tennessee Hospital Association Patient Safety Partner to help provide safe and cost-efficient care for our patients.
The Society of Thoracic Surgery provides data for us so we can benchmark, helping us to provide high-quality chest and heart surgery care.
We report data to the American College of Cardiology to help us continually improve and provide excellence related to heart health conditions, including heart attacks, valve repair, and heart failure care.
We are one of 16 hospitals in the State of Tennessee that are members of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program that reports and tracks data for surgery patients to provide the best surgical outcomes and lowest complication rates possible by collaborating with other high-quality surgery programs throughout the nation.
We partner with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to pursue bold, innovative ways to improve health care.
Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to the latest scientific treatment guidelines.
Why the Awards Matter
While it’s always a joy to be given an award of any kind, we see our awards as part of the bigger picture. When our physicians, clinicians, and programs win awards or receive honors, it’s a sign that we’re working to provide those in our community with the care they need and deserve.
Every honor we receive is a way of demonstrating that we’re truly committed to providing you with exceptional care with a hometown feel. You are why we do what we do.
NONDISCRIMINATION NOTICE STATEMENT
West Tennessee Healthcare (WTH) does not exclude, deny benefits to, or otherwise discriminate against
any person on the grounds of race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, Limited
English Proficiency or sex, including discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation,
sex stereotyping or pregnancy in admission to, participation in, or receipt of the services and
benefits under any of its programs and activities, whether carried out by WTH directly or through a
contractor or any other entity with which WTH arranges to carry out its programs and activities.
For further information about this policy, contact Amy Garner (731) 541-9914.
