Michelle Procknal, director of quality, was instrumental in the hospital achieving the coveted certification.

Brooks-TLC Hospital System, Inc. has been awarded by DNV GL Healthcare full certification to the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001 Quality Management System.

“Brooks-TLC is dedicated to providing the safest and most effective healthcare services possible,” says Jodi Witherell, vice president of quality services. “ISO certification not only reflects that mission, but helps to empower it. The certificate is just a piece of paper, but the effort required to achieve it fundamentally transforms the way we do business. ISO 9001 is ideally suited to the complex, people-intensive challenges of running a hospital.”

Brooks-TLC CEO, Mary LaRowe, added, “I’m so incredibly proud of the teamwork it took to earn this certification and how every employee played a big part in achieving it.”

ISO 9001 is the most widely-accepted quality management system in use around the world, and is quickly gaining acceptance among US healthcare providers as a foundation for their quality and patient safety programs.

“Brooks-TLC has worked hard to achieve this certification, and they have done so with unwavering commitment from their top leadership to make their hospital the best it can be,” says Patrick Horine, President of DNV GL Healthcare. “ISO certification isn’t just an award or trophy for something you’ve done, its public evidence that you are at the top of your game with an obvious plan in place to make excellence an everyday objective.”

ISO 9001 brings science to the art of caregiving; it helps to standardize processes around things that are proven to work, by the people doing the work, thus empowering frontline workers while creating an environment of predictability for the entire organization. The ultimate impact of ISO within hospitals is the reduction or elimination of variation, so that critical work processes are done consistently and the “best ideas” aren’t held by one person or one department, but are ingrained in the organization itself.

Businesses that implement ISO do so for both the internal and external benefits. Internally it helps staff create clear and consistent processes of patient care, and ensure that progress is constantly being made toward specific quality objectives. Externally, it tells the public, as well as insurers and regulatory agencies, that the hospital is not only talking about quality, but is pursuing it with discipline and transparency.

“ISO 9001 is like sheet music for an orchestra; it gets everyone on the same page and helps us achieve our objectives,” says Witherell.