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Harris County Psychiatric Center Earns High Marks
in Accreditation
The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC) received a near perfect score for its overall patient care program during its triennial evaluation by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the nation’s preeminent hospital accrediting group.
The 250-bed acute care psychiatric facility received a score of 96 out of 100 points. The JCAHO scores are based upon an intensive site visit and inspection of all aspects of hospital care.
In addition, HCPC’s five-year-old Outpatient Behavioral and Psychiatric Services program earned a perfect score of 100 from the JCAHO surveyors. This is the first perfect score ever earned by an outpatient program in the JCAHO surveyor’s 27 years of inspecting outpatient facilities. The outpatient program includes a five-days-a-week Partial Hospitalization Program and a step-down Intensive Outpatient Program.
“I am extremely proud of our staff for their hard work and their devotion to providing excellent patient care, especially considering the recent cutbacks of our state funding,” said UTHCPC Chief Administrator Lois J. Moore. “The faculty, staff and students who work here truly believe that our patients – the poorest of the poor and sickest of the sick – deserve top quality care and see that they get it.”
Robert W. Guynn, M.D., executive director of HCPC and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UT Medical School at Houston, said, “Receiving such high accolades from JCAHO is a major benchmark for us as a psychiatric facility.
“Mental health care facilities must adhere to an ever-changing and expanding collection of medical, legal and ethical regulations, which do not always impact traditional medical-surgical facilities. In addition, the misunderstanding and stigma surrounding mental illness and its treatment hinder awareness of its importance. Our achievement regarding the JCAHO survey will certainly help mental health issues receive the kind of parity of importance they deserve,” he said.
— By Geri Konigsberg, UT Harris County Psychiatric Center