3rd Hospital in the U.S. to Receive Advanced Perinatal Certification

Community Medical Center (CMC) has become the third hospital in the nation to earn The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects Community’s commitment to providing continuous compliance by proactively maintaining a safe health care environment.  

This certification recognizes Community Medical Center’s efforts to achieve integrated, coordinated and patient-centered prenatal through postpartum care – including both high-risk and uncomplicated pregnancies. The certification uses standards, guidelines and The Joint Commission’s perinatal care measure set for managing and monitoring aspects of perinatal care that are critical to improving and maintaining the health of newborns and their mothers.  

Community Medical Center’s Senior Director of Nursing Operations Hollie Nagel shared that Community underwent a rigorous, onsite review on February 16 & 17 of this year. During the visit, a team of Joint Commission reviewers evaluated compliance with published certification standards including practices that standardize care around identification of maternal mental health needs, risk evaluation of socioeconomic factors that have the potential to impact outcomes and standardization of care for high-risk maternal conditions such as elevated blood pressure and post-partum hemorrhage. They also conducted onsite observations and interviews.  

Joint Commission standards are developed in partnership with American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) as well as in consultation with providers, measurement experts and patients. 

“Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care recognizes health care organizations committed to fostering continuous improvement in patient safety and quality of care,” says Deborah Ryan, MS, RN, interim executive vice president, Accreditation and Certification Operations, The Joint Commission. “We commend Community Medical Center for using certification to reduce variation in its clinical processes and to strengthen its program structure and management framework for newborns and their mothers.” 

Nagel was very excited when she received news about the honor. 

“I’m proud of our team of specialized nurses, physicians, advance practice practitioners and support staff for their hard work and dedication to not only delivering high-quality patient care, but to addressing maternal health inequities in our region, which ultimately led to this certification,” she said.  

Community Medical Center’s Chief Medical Officer, NICU Medical Director & Neonatologist, Dr. Bonnie Stephens was also pleased. 

“Labor and birth are dynamic – and situations can change rapidly. Pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum are complex, and our team of highly skilled medical professionals in the Women & Newborns Unit & NICU work to understand each patient’s unique situation so that they can ensure safe, quality patient care. I am proud our caregivers are being recognized for the work they do each day to improve maternal and infant health outcomes,” she said  

About Women & Children's

The Women & Children’s center at Community Medical Center is committed to making communities healthier for children and women throughout Montana and Eastern Idaho by leading in patient care and education. The hospital has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise in women’s and children’s health. The organization includes comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine – focusing on high-risk pregnancy and births, a 32-bed level III NICU – the highest level of care in our region and a specialized NICU flight team to transport premature and critically ill infants from all over Western Montana. For more information, go to CommunityMed.org or CommunityChildrens.org.