Published on October 22, 2010
Genesis Rehabilitation Earns Iowa’s Only Spinal Cord System of Care Accreditation
Program earns total of 7 CARF distinctions
After earning five prestigious accreditations in 2007, the largest physical medicine and rehabilitation program in Iowa set out to do even better.
The Genesis Regional Rehabilitation Program had already excelled in comprehensive inpatient and brain injury programs. For 2010, staff decided, the program would pursue spinal cord system of care accreditation.
It wouldn’t be an easy achievement: Although the Genesis program had been caring for spinal cord injury patients throughout its 35-year history, CARF-accreditation had to be earned for both inpatient and outpatient programs. No other rehabilitation program in Iowa, and only two in Illinois, had such a status.
Going for the spinal cord system of care accreditation also was an all-or-nothing venture. The other five currently-held accreditations were on the line if the spinal cord programs weren’t meeting the CARF standards.
Three years of hard work has paid off.
Genesis Regional Rehabilitation recently became the only program in Iowa to earn accreditations for the inpatient and outpatient spinal cord systems of care. There are only 80 accredited spinal cord programs throughout the nation.
In total, Genesis earned seven CARF accreditations after undergoing a rigorous peer review process and demonstrating to four on-site surveyors that its programs are focused on high quality, the best possible outcomes and customer satisfaction.
“Achieving this level of accreditation is a significant step for our program,” said Jan King, Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. “I am so proud of the staff and very thankful to our administration for supporting our efforts.
“The work of each of the individual teams was phenomenal. This does not happen unless you have teams of professionals coming together to advocate for what’s best for the care of patients.”
In all, seven, three-year CARF accreditations were awarded to Genesis:
• Inpatient rehabilitation programs for adults, children and adolescents;
• Inpatient brain injury programs for adults, children and adolescents (one of 2 in Iowa);
• Inpatient spinal cord system of care for adults (the only one in Iowa);
• Outpatient brain injury program for adults (the only one in Iowa);
• Outpatient spinal cord system of care for adults (the only one in Iowa).
King is especially proud of the newest spinal cord program accreditations -- a difficult distinction to achieve. In addition to providing the required inpatient and outpatient services, Genesis had to show it had the ability to follow this patient population throughout life, assisting them with future needs as they arose.
This continuum of care includes: follow-up phone calls throughout their lifetime; physical assessments to identify issues like skin integrity or spasticity; wheelchair assessments; and, information on new technology that might benefit them.
Getting “back to life” is an important part of spinal cord recovery. Patients are encouraged to participate in adaptive sports programs and the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group. Always working to improve accessibility in the community, the program helped establish a fuel call system at several local gas stations that enables people with disabilities to push a button if they need an attendant to fill their gas tank.
Occupational Therapist Molly Muhl and Physical Therapist Janel Stout led the Spinal Cord Injury Team in its efforts to achieve accreditation. Assisting with the outpatient component was Lori Dryg, Speech/Language Pathologist; Kirstin Hawley, Physical Therapist; and Cherie Blackwell, Occupational Therapist.
“At Genesis, we’ve seen the number of spinal cord injury patients increase over the past three years. Our numbers likely will go up even more once physicians and case managers become aware of the accreditation,” said Muhl, who also leads the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group at Genesis. “Although the accreditation is new, many of our team members have many years of experience working with spinal cord injury patients.”
Areas of Strength
The survey team listed 31 areas of strength at Genesis, including: fall prevention efforts; state-of-the-art technology; outreach programs from ThinkFirst in the schools to stroke risk assessments in the community; the use of technology to make patients safer; and a comprehensive website. More than 50 employees have achieved brain injury specialist certification and 12 nurses are Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurses.
Physiatrist Conway Chin, D.O., the program’s medical director, was commended for his leadership, skill as a physician, and his ability to unite stakeholders in the program’s mission. His visionary leadership includes working to develop an outpatient day program and starting up outreach clinics to make it easier for people with disabilities to be seen.
Surveyors also singled out these four areas of exemplary conformance:
• Genesis’ focus on patient safety extends to all levels of the organization.
• Genesis has a certified driver rehabilitation specialist on staff and is recognized by AARP for its driving program. It also sponsors several CarFit events each year for seniors.
• The program has a cost-effective scheduling system using an Excel spreadsheet that is updated instantaneously and easily viewed to help ensure patients receive continuity of care and consistent staffing.
• Therapeutic Recreation conducts weekly mobility outings, has a therapy dog program, offers an adaptive waterskiing program each year, and participates in numerous community outreach activities, including fall prevention workshops for seniors.
--- By Linda Barlow, Genesis
