Vance Clinic earns 3-year AAAHC certification

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. James Bolinger
  • 71st FTW Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The Vance Clinic earned a three-year accreditation from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, Inc. in June.

The four-person civilian team inspected the clinic in May and spent three days evaluating clinic personnel on 20 inspectable items, said Col. David Chiesa, the 71st Medical Group commander. That is four more inspectable areas that three years ago and this year the clinic received a Substantially Compliant in all areas. Substantially compliant is the highest possible rating.

The AAAHC is a civilian company that inspects outpatient medical clinics for quality of patient support.

The AAAHC has a set of national standards on which they grade clinics. They inspect areas such as rights of patients, quality of care provided, clinical records and health information, and infection prevention.

Enduring an AAAHC inspection is like having the Air Force Inspector General show up on your door step and perform a Unit Compliance Inspection, said Chiesa. In fact, in order to prepare for the accreditation process, the 71st Flying Training Wing Inspection Team performed a no-notice inspection on the clinic in March. The WIT needed to do a no notice inspection and clinic personnel needed practice; it was a win-win situation.

The best part of getting a Substantially Compliant rating for all 20 inspect able areas, was not coming in on nights and weekends to attain it, said Chiesa. It was amazing.

"Every assignment I've been at, we've had an inspection," said Chiesa, "and every single time I had to come in on evenings and weekends to clean the lights and make everything shiny. I told (everybody at the clinic) back in December, 'you guys want to come in on evening s and weekends to do all that stuff?' No one raised their hand.

"So I told them, 'Let's just make sure we are doing it, that we are always doing it, and that we keep doing it,'" he said.

By not "preparing" for the test and earning a Substantially Compliant rating, the men and women of the medical group showed that they're committed to continual evaluation, continuous self-improvement, said Chief Master Sgt. Derek Madison, the 71st MDG superintendent.

Because the clinic earned a substantially compliant rating they will not have to be inspected again for three years, said Madison. However, like the new Vance Wing Inspection Team, the AAAHC inspectors can come back at any time and only give 24 hours notice. And for military clinics, the AAAHC is looking to tie future inspections into Consolidated Unit Inspections, which occur every two years.

This would eliminate the extra burden placed on agencies who are preparing for an inspection, said Chiesa.

"We have an all-star team," said Chiesa. "Everyone in their areas performed well in support and patient care. The operations and support squadrons are superior."