66 MDG scores high on inspections; earns three-year accreditation

  • Published
  • By Capt. Geoff Buteau
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  The 66th Medical Group recently received results from a November inspection by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care where they earned the highest rating, "substantial compliance," in 17 out of 17 chapters.

With this high score comes the maximum accreditation of three years, meaning, according to the AAAHC, the 66 MDG performance "implies a commitment to continual self-evaluation and continuous improvement."

"The most important part of the AAAHC inspection is that they confirm the outstanding patient care that's given to the community," said Col. Parker Plante, 66 MDG commander.

"So typically the [AAAHC inspectors] come in and take a look at all the different processes that we're doing, the patient care that we give, and they look through some of the records to make sure we're annotating everything," he said. "They do this to ensure the community knows that we are taking care of the patients properly, safely and that we're continually improving the overall patient care here."

Some of those 17 chapters include, patient rights, quality of care, clinical record and health information, occupational health and dental services.

The AAAHC also named two outstanding performers: Staff Sgt. Sara Hayes, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the mental health flight, and Staff Sgt. Jamie Red, a radiology technician and patient advocate.

The Nov. 16 to 20 inspection by the AAAHC coincided with the Health Service Inspection reported on by the Hansconian late last year. In that inspection, the 66 MDG earned outstanding ratings -- the highest possible scores -- in five specific graded areas: dental, epidemiology and public health, human resource management, mental health and population health.

The 66 MDG earned an overall high satisfactory rating on the HSI, receiving a score of 85. The satisfactory scale range is 81 through 86.

In addition to some of the functions inspected by the AAAHC, that inspection, said Colonel Plante, pays close attention to the military capability of the Hanscom clinic and its Airmen. "The results of this inspection basically solidifies that we're able to get our servicemembers medically ready to deploy."

But it wasn't just the inspection results that Colonel Plante was pleased with. The size of Hanscom's clinic is smaller compared to many others in the Air Force and that means that more junior Airmen are able to take on more significant roles than they would at other installations.

One thing about both the AAAHC and HSI inspections that helped these Airmen was the opportunity to ask the inspectors questions.

"[Both inspection teams] did a very good job at explaining what else we can do better," the colonel said.

"Because they go to all these different areas, they see the best programs, and know what's a good program and what's not a good one; they can give us pointers," he said. "It gives us a chance to get better, to continually improve on our program and processes, and take better care of patients, the base, and the deployers."