(Chambersburg, PA) - By demonstrating compliance with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization’s national standards for health care quality and safety, Keystone Health Center has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™.

"Achieving accreditation demonstrates Keystone Health Center has voluntarily sought an independent evaluation of its compliance with state-of-the-art performance standards," says Michael Kulczycki, executive director, Ambulatory Care Accreditation Program, Joint Commission.   Reaccreditation by Joint Commission must be earned every three years.

 Medical professionals from Joint Commission conducted an on-site survey on May 5, 6, and 7, 2004, visiting each of Keystone’s five Chambersburg practices:  Keystone Family Practice, Keystone Dental Care, Keystone Women’s Care, Franklin County Pediatrics, and Franklin County Heart Center.   

"We seek accreditation for the medical and dental practices in the Keystone Healthcare Network because we want to be the best," says Joanne Cochran, President and CEO of Keystone.  "We view obtaining Joint Commission accreditation as another step toward excellence."   

According to Charlene Gingrich, Director of Quality at Keystone, "Our staff is very supportive of the survey process.  It gives them a feeling of prestige to work in an accredited organization. They also appreciate the educational aspect of the survey and the opportunity to interact with the members of the Joint Commission survey team."

 An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1975, the Joint Commission has developed state-of-the-art standards for outpatient ambulatory care organizations.

 Keystone Health Center, a public, non-profit organization, provides high-quality family medical, obstetric, gynecological, cardiac, behavioral, and dental health care and, when needed, social services to underserved and vulnerable populations as well as the entire community. At present, Keystone Health Center operates six primary care sites—Keystone Family Practice, Keystone Dental Care, Keystone Women's Care, Keystone Health Center-Path Valley satellite family practice, Franklin County Pediatrics, and the State Migrant Farmworker Administration office—and one specialty practice, the Franklin County Heart Center. Keystone also operates one year-round migrant and seasonal farmworker site in Berks County and one seasonal farmworker site in Adams County. Services are also provided through outreach workers and contracted providers across the Commonwealth.

 For more information regarding Keystone Health Center, please visit Keystone’s website at www.keystonehealth.org. For more information regarding this news release, please contact Dawn Stinson at (717) 263-2230 x227.

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