Agencies to inspect the 4th Medical Group Published July 16, 2008 By Olive Cyrus Director, Performance Improvement SEYMOUR JOHNSON AFB, N.C. -- Military and civilian agencies will be conducting a routine inspection of the 4th Medical Group from 11-15 August 2008 to evaluate the organization's compliance with healthcare standards. The inspection will be conducted by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Inc. and the Air Force Inspection Agency. The AAAHC, a civilian accreditation organization, has a mission to evaluate ambulatory medical care facilities with regards to the promotion of patient safety and quality of care provided. They have evaluated ambulatory health care organizations for over 26 years. The AAAHC emphasizes the educational and consultative benefits of the survey. The AFIA is checklist-oriented in its inspection, focusing on military requirements in health care. They closely evaluate areas such as Flight Medicine, Mental Health, Public Health, Bioenvironmental Engineering, and Dental Readiness: areas that are also found in the civilian sector, but have special meaning to the military community. The 4th Medical Group was last inspected in Sept 2005 by Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) and AFIA and made several changes to improve our processes. Improved items used advanced technology to move to electronic medical records and electronic training records. "We take these inspections very seriously, " said Col Steven W. Higgins, the 4 MDG Commander, They are our report card on how well we provide care, treatment, and services to our community while supporting the mission of the 4 FW. We work extremely hard at being ready, and staying ready, for deployments while taking care of our daily business of primary health care for our beneficiaries." Throughout the week, inspectors and surveyors conduct formal protocols with various staff members, do a walk-around of the facilities and hold a healthcare advisory forum for the public, among other activities. To meet with the AAAHC team for special issues consideration, please contact Mrs. Cyrus at 722-0784.