Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod Awarded CARF Accreditation for Stroke and Inpatient Rehabilitation Programs
SANDWICH, MA - Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod has received a three-year accreditation for its inpatient rehabilitation and stroke specialty programs from CARF International, an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services provided at rehabilitation facilities.
“We are proud of this accreditation, which validates the quality of our programs and recognizes the commitment of our leadership team and the exceptional dedication of our staff,” says Stephanie Nadolny, Vice President of Operations at Spaulding Cape Cod (SCC). “It’s gratifying to receive this accreditation as we celebrate twenty years of serving our community.”
“CARF surveyors look at how we deliver care through the lens of our patients, families and stakeholders,” says Linda Melillo, SCC’s Director of Quality and Compliance, and Director of Patient Experience, Spaulding Rehabilitation. “The survey gets at the core of what patients and families need and whether the hospital’s culture supports that perspective.”
In addition to reviewing SCC’s overall inpatient rehabilitation program, surveyors evaluated SCC’s stroke program. “A significant portion of our patients need our expertise as a result of stroke, so the survey was an opportunity to make a deeper assessment of this program, says Daina Juhansoo, DPT, Director of Inpatient Rehabilitation. A stroke specialty program must use evidence-based treatments to minimize the patient’s impairments and restrictions on activity, maximize quality of life, and assist both patient and family to promote their health over the lifespan.
In granting the accreditation, CARF surveyors highlighted 14 aspects of SCC’s organization and practice as strengths, praising the leadership team’s promotion of a culture of ongoing performance improvement and citing SCC’s award-winning “Chasing Zero Harms” initiative for “greatly increasing patient safety” and resulting in cost savings. Surveyors also referenced SCC’s “absolute focus on the needs of patients, families, and other stakeholders.”
CARF’s report further highlighted SCC’s staffing ratios that allow for individualized care, treatment continuity, and maximizing outcomes, as well as SCC’s unique model for inpatient physician care. “Given the needs of our older population, we leverage the expertise of rehabilitation physicians and specialists in internal medicine and neurology to manage the care of our patients with complex needs,” says David Lowell, M.D., Chief Medical Officer. “This model is one reason we’ve had success in reducing readmission rates.”
SCC’s three-year accreditation is the highest CARF awards and indicates that the hospital has undergone a rigorous, on-site peer review process, demonstrating its commitment to offering programs and services that are measurable, accountable, and of the highest quality.
About Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod and Spaulding Rehabilitation
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod (SCC) is a 60-bed acute rehabilitation hospital providing advanced inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to residents of the Cape, Islands and South Shore. SCC is the only provider of hospital-level rehabilitation on Cape Cod and includes outpatient centers in Sandwich, Yarmouth, Orleans, and Plymouth, and a dedicated pediatric outpatient center in Sandwich. SCC is a member of Spaulding Rehabilitation and Partners HealthCare. Spaulding Rehabilitation also includes Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, its main campus the new 132-bed facility in Charlestown, which is a national model for environmental and inclusive design; Spaulding Hospital Cambridge; two skilled nursing facilities; and 24 outpatient sites throughout Eastern Massachusetts. Spaulding strives to continually update and improve its programs to offer patients the latest, high-quality care through its leading, expert providers. Spaulding Boston is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the official rehabilitation hospital of the New England Revolution. Spaulding Boston is the only rehabilitation hospital in New England continually ranked since 1995 by U.S. News and World Report in its Best Hospitals survey with a #5 ranking in 2016-2017. For more information, please visit www.spauldingrehab.org.
About CARF
CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF International, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services. For more information about the accreditation process, please visit the CARF website at www.carf.org.