Omaha, NE – Hospitals weighing which staffing firms to use and healthcare professionals who are thinking about going to work for such a firm now have a new factor to consider: Has the staffing company achieved the Gold Seal of Approval™ for health care staffing services certification from The Joint Commission?
The Joint Commission recently certified the first two staffing companies under a new initiative launched in October 2004. The Joint Commission began its certification for staffing companies in response to the ongoing shortages of nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals that have forced healthcare organizations to increasingly fill positions with temporary workers through contractual arrangements with staffing firms.
To become certified, staffing firms must meet standards in several key functional areas such as processes for verifying the credentials and competence of healthcare staff. Certification standards also address topics such as leadership, managing human resources, performance measurement and improvement, and information management.
“Healthcare organizations that contract with certified staffing firms can look to this certification as an assurance that this company demonstrates a commitment to providing and continuously improving quality services,” says Michele Sacco, executive director, Health Care Staffing Services Certification, The Joint Commission.
Children’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, which relies on staffing companies to fill some nursing positions, welcomes the new certification designation as an objective standard by which to measure the firms with whom it partners.
“Children’s Hospital has a higher level of confidence when using a company that is The Joint Commission certified. It is important for us to work with staffing firms that have met the objective national standards set by The Joint Commission,” said Kathy English, senior vice president and COO for Children’s Hospital.
Medical Solutions, Inc. — a healthcare staffing firm used by Omaha’s Children’s Hospital — is one of just two staffing companies in the country to be certified by The Joint Commission. Company President and CEO Scott Anderson said that while the certification process demanded significant attention and company resources, it has been well worth the effort.
“We have benefited greatly by submitting our daily operations to the scrutiny of the The Joint Commission reviewers,” said Anderson, whose Omaha-based staffing company provides nurses and technologists on contract to hospitals nationwide. “It puts us on the same playing field with our clients who have gone through a similar process of accreditation and gives them added confidence in the health professionals we are placing in their hospitals and the quality of service we provide.”
Julie Hogel RN is a former traveling and hospital nurse who now works for Medical Solutions in its Omaha headquarters. She sees The Joint Commission certification for staffing firms as a positive for the entire healthcare industry because it provides a third party source of information to assist hospitals, as well as prospective employees of staffing firms, to make informed choices.
“Having been a traveling nurse, I was in the trenches and understand the challenges associated with hospital work,” Hogel says. “When a staffing company is certified by the same organization that provides accreditation for hospitals, that’s a sure way for the hospitals to get the nurses and technologists that the patients deserve, and it’s a great way for healthcare professionals to evaluate prospective employers. In the end, the patients are the real winners because certification supports all healthcare organizations’ efforts to improve quality of care.”
About The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission seeks to improve the safety and quality of care through the provision of healthcare accreditation that supports performance improvement in healthcare organizations. It evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 7,800 hospitals and home care organizations. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare.
