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Cayuga Medical Center Laboratory has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™ for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in laboratories. The accreditation award recognizes Cayuga Medical Center’s dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards.

Cayuga Medical Center Laboratory underwent a rigorous unannounced on-site survey this spring. A team of Joint Commission expert surveyors evaluated CMC for compliance with standards of care that directly affect the quality and safety of diagnostic services and patient care.

"In achieving Joint Commission accreditation, Cayuga Medical Center has demonstrated its commitment to the highest level of care for its patients," says Jennifer Rhamy, M.B.A., M.A., M.T. (ASCP) SBB, HP, Executive Director, Laboratory Accreditation Program, The Joint Commission. “Accreditation is a voluntary process and I commend Cayuga Medical Center for successfully undertaking this challenge to elevate its standard of care and instill confidence in the community it serves.”

“With Joint Commission accreditation, we are making a significant investment in quality on a day-to-day basis from the top down. Joint Commission accreditation provides us a framework to take our organization to the next level and helps create a culture of excellence,” says Toni Burger, MBA, MT(ASCP), Administrative Director, Laboratory. “For our organization, achieving Joint Commission accreditation is a major step toward maintaining excellence and continually improving the care we provide.”

The Joint Commission has been evaluating and accrediting laboratory services since 1979. Their laboratory standards emphasize the results a laboratory should achieve instead of emphasizing the technical methods of performing testing, and were developed with input from professional laboratory organizations. Joint Commission standards address processes that follow laboratory specimens from the doctor’s order into the laboratory from specimen collection then back to the patient through result reporting, focusing on the provision of high quality, safe laboratory services integrated with patient care. These standards highlight the essential nature of laboratory services on the actual care and service delivery processes that contribute to and support the overall health care delivery system.

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