Landry seen as underdog to Boustany
February 7, 2012Joseph Clovis Autin
February 9, 2012Teche Action Clinic is now one of 12 health organizations in the country that has earned the Primary Care Medical Home designation.
The Joint Commission of Hospital Accreditation, the nation’s oldest and largest standard setting and accreditation body in health care, notified the Tri-parish area’s only Federal Qualified Community Health Care Center of its top designation last week.
“We recognize Joint Commission accreditation as the Gold Seal for providing safe, high quality patient care,” Teche Action Clinic CEO Dr. Gary Wiltz said. “The special designation recognizes our dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards.”
Teche Action Clinic underwent a rigorous on-site survey in December 2011, which was evaluated by a team of Joint Commission surveyors. Teche operates clinics in Houma, Dulac, Morgan City, Baldwin, Franklin, Pierre Part, Edgard and Reserve.
“Basically, the surveyors’ goal was to find out how comprehensive we are in coordinating patient-centered care,” Wiltz said. “That includes timely and appropriate treatment, increased patient satisfaction, and improved patient outcomes while reducing the overall costs to the health care system.”
Michael Kulczycki, executive director of the Ambulatory Care Accreditation Program of the Joint Commission, said organizations that pursue the Primary Care Medical Home Status, demonstrate the highest commitment to delivering primary care. “I commend Teche Action Clinic for successfully achieving this pinnacle and for its dedication to continually improving patient care,” he said.
Wiltz said with the status, Teche Action Clinic is now operating “within a framework to provide the best care to our patients.”
He explained that the Joint Commission’s Primary Care Medical Home is a model in which patients benefit from increased access to the services of the clinician and interdisciplinary team. This model also focuses on education and self-management by the patient.
An independent, non-profit organization, the Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards, Kulczycki said.
Wiltz also announced that he has been elected board chair-elect of the National Association of Community Health Care Centers, a non-profit organization with the mission of expanding and enhancing quality community-responsive health care for America’s medically underserved and uninsured.
“The demand for health care centers has grown, particularly since millions of people have lost their health insurance along with their jobs, during the recession,” Wiltz said. “Health care centers also generate $24 billion in annual savings to the health care system, by keeping people healthy and out of hospital emergency rooms.”
State Rep. Sam Jones said he has seen Wiltz and the board of directors, grow Teche Action Clinic and its assets close to $150 million, maybe more. “It’s just incredible to think all of this started in a three- bedroom house, as Louisiana’s first Community Health Care Center,” he said.
In late March, Jones said, Teche will begin a construction campaign at both its Terrebonne Parish campus sites. Teche Action Clinic will construct a 10,000-square-foot facility on Mozart Drive that will serve Dulac and the southern portions of Terrebonne Parish, and an 11,000- square-foot facility on West Tunnel Boulevard in front of the State Social Security office.
Wiltz said all ailments will be treated at the Dulac location including family practice, dental, mental health, pharmacy and laboratory needs.
“When it’s all said and done, these projects should total $4 million with equipment and furnishings,” Jones said.
