Cannon’s 27th Special Operations Medical Group receives accreditation from The Joint Commission

Story by 2nd Lt. Merit Davey

27th Special Operations Wing

Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. – The 27th Special Operations Medical Group recently joined the likes of gold-star health care programs worldwide in both ambulatory health care and primary care when it was accredited and certified, respectively, by The Joint Commission, Feb. 10, 2024, here.

TJC’s mission statement is “to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.” They do this by setting quality standards, evaluating an organization’s performance, and providing an interactive educative experience that provides innovative solutions and resources to support continuous improvement.

To be awarded The Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission, an organization must undergo a rigorous, unannounced site visit. During this visit, the 27th SOMDG was evaluated on standards spanning several areas including leadership, medication management, and rights and responsibilities of the individual.

“This accreditation further highlights our medical group’s steadfast commitment to taking care of our Air Commandos and their families,” said Col. Jeremy Bergin, 27th Special Operations Wing commander. “They have done an exceptional job improving care for our team and we are incredibly proud of them for all the hard work they have put towards improving quality of care.”

The Joint Commission is the nation’s leading and most widely recognized healthcare performance improvement organization, and the accreditation and certification programs are a nationally recognized distinction. Their standards are developed in consultation with health care experts and providers, measurement experts and patients. Informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help health care organizations measure, assess and improve performance. The surveyors also conducted onsite observations and interviews with medical staff personnel.

“While we have accomplished significant process improvement at the 27th SOMDG in the last year, it was our total force airmen who enabled this accomplishment,” said Col. Danielle Cermak, 27th SOMDG commander. “Staff involvement in the process is vital to the success of the on-site visit because the visit focuses on direct care of the patient. Their competency and professionalism rose to the occasion, and they absolutely deserve this recognition.”

The Quality Check report accomplished during the no-notice inspection confirms the 27th SOMDG met all four of the TJC’s 2024 National Patient Safety Goals: improving the accuracy of patient identification; improving the safety of using medications; reducing the risk of health care-associated infections; and Universal Protocol.

“We know there is more work to do and accreditation and certification through TJC is a continuous process,” said Cermak. “We know we have to keep up the hard work and continue improving processes and patient care…and show people what we can do – and the safe, high-quality care we are committed to.”