NIAGARA, Wis. – The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for ambulatory health care accreditation has been awarded to the Niagara Health Center.

The center demonstrated continuous compliance with the Joint Commission’s nationally-recognized standards to receive this award.

“The Gold Seal of Approval is a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to providing safe and effective patient care,” a spokesperson said.

The Niagara Health Center is the ambulatory surgery center where many of the interventional pain management procedures at Spine Pain Diagnostics Associates are performed.

The Niagara Health Center underwent an on-site survey in late July. During the survey, a Joint Commission expert surveyor evaluated compliance with ambulatory care standards related to a variety of areas, including coordination of care, monitoring for procedures that involve use of sedation or anesthesia, infection prevention and control, management of medications, and patient education and training.

“Joint Commission accreditation provides ambulatory care organizations with the processes contributing to improvements in a variety of areas from the enhancement of staff education to the demonstration of leading practices within the ambulatory setting,” said Michael Kulczycki, M.B.A., CAE, executive director of the Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation program for the Joint Commission.

“We commend the Niagara Health Center for its efforts to become a quality improvement organization, and achieving this pinnacle demonstrating a commitment to patient safety and quality,” Kulczycki said.

“The Niagara Health Center is pleased once again to receive accreditation from The Joint Commission, the premier health care quality improvement and accrediting body in the nation,” added Daniel Freeman, public relations coordinator at Spine Pain Diagnostics Associates,

“Staff from across the organization continue to work together to develop and implement approaches and strategies that have the potential to improve care for the patients in our community,” Freeman said.

The Niagara Health Center was first accredited in 1997, and has renewed its accreditation on a triennial basis since then.

The Joint Commission’s ambulatory health care 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.

The Niagara Health Center is an ambulatory surgery center located in Niagara.