The Starting Point for Hospital Reform: Accreditation



Our hospital in not accredited. I’m not aware of any other of Washington’s 109 hospitals that lacks accreditation. Even if there are some, it’s not more than a handful. If this doesn’t raise a red flag for any prospective WhidbeyHealth patient, maybe it should.

Accreditation, in hospital terms, means one of two independent agencies has inspected a hospital, found its facilities to be in order, and that a whole bunch of its specified policies, procedures, and practices meet certain standards. An inspection team spends about a week at a given hospital, combing through the books, examining the facilities, observing daily operations, etc. 

They are there to help, not to hinder or punish. If deficiencies are found, the hospital (not the public) is notified of them, and they must be corrected before accreditation is granted. Once granted, I believe a less in-depth inspection is performed annually, before the accreditation status is renewed.

Our hospital was accredited until around ten years ago. I’m not sure why it was taken away or a decision was made to let it lapse. 

When I campaigned for a seat on the board of directors in 2015, accreditation was my top issue. At a candidates’ debate, another board member claimed accreditation was too expensive, saying it would cost $60,000 or $70,000. Fortunately, I had just inquired about the expense, and responded that the correct figure was around $6,000 per year. After that excuse was debunked, WH’s new explanation is that the hospital already undergoes many inspections and checkups, so accreditation is redundant. I guess then all those other hospitals are just plain stupid?

Shortly after Eric Anderson, DVM was appointed to the Board, I published a Letter to the Editor on the subject. I pointed out the Dr. Anderson owns a beautiful veterinary clinic, which prominently displays on its front doors that it is accredited. I asked why he thinks it’s important to accredit his animal hospital, but not our people hospital. I never got an answer.

Despite the request being made several times in recent years, not a single board member, much less a voting majority, has expressed any interest in WH becoming accredited again. I can think of only one explanation: WH leaders know they don’t meet any number of the standards that the accreditors insist upon, and they don’t intend anytime soon to fix things.

For example, it came to light about a year ago that WH’s pharmacy was substandard – to the point an entirely new pharmacy had to be constructed on a “rush” basis. The old facility was outdated, out of code, extremely cramped, and undoubtedly unsafe, as the old ventilation system posed the hazard of exposing pharmacy employees to dangerous and unhealthy fumes.

Had an accreditor inspection team looked at the old pharmacy, I assume it would have been cited as a (serious) deficiency. The hospital knew of the problem, because they had plans to build a new pharmacy at the time the new inpatient wing was being planned and designed. What they chose to do was to address the pharmacy problem after the new wing was completed – and if there were funds left over from the big $50 million job. 

Did anyone really believe there would be project funds left unused? Instead, WH acknowledges the project had a cost overrun estimated at $3 million – why is that still an “estimate,” 16 months after the new wing opened? I’ll bet the overrun estimate has run over. I’ll be seeking documents on this and reporting back to you.

How many doctors and other professional medical personnel have thought twice about going to work at an unaccredited facility. How many prospective customers have decided to go off-Island to an accredited hospital, rather than to WhidbeyHealth? 

How many years must I and others gripe, complain, and beg our hospital leaders to act responsibly? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.

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