Accreditations
Hospital-wide Accreditations
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) has once again been recognized as a Best Hospital by U.S. News & World Report, a global authority in hospital rankings and consumer advice. Following a thorough performance analysis using a variety of measures such as survival and complication rates, patient experience and level of nursing care, U.S. News ranked TMH as the 24th best hospital in Florida for 2022-2023. TMH is one of two facilities in the Panhandle to make the ranking’s top 25 hospitals, and the Big Bend region’s only facility named a Best Hospital.
Tallahassee Memorial also earned seven “High Performing” hospital ratings from U.S. News for the following areas of care:
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Colon cancer surgery
- Diabetes
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Kidney failure
- Stroke
Bariatric
TMH is proud to have earned accreditation by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP®), a joint Quality Program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). The accreditation exemplifies TMH’s commitment to quality care, with expertly trained staff and the leadership of experienced, fellowship-trained bariatric surgeons.
TMH Physician Partners - Endocrinology, Obesity & Diabetes has received the highest designation possible and is now one of only four Comprehensive Centers with Obesity Medicine Qualifications in the state of Florida. This accreditation comes from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP®) and acknowledges TMH’s commitment to providing excellent weight-related and metabolic care.
TMH has been recognized by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with a Blue Distinction® Centers for Bariatric Surgery designation, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated health care facilities that show a commitment to delivering high quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations. The Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery program provides a full range of bariatric surgery care; including surgical care, post-operative care, outpatient follow-up care, and patient education.
Heart & Vascular
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has earned the following cardiovascular recognitions and accreditations, demonstrating our Heart & Vascular Center’s continued commitment to providing patients the highest quality of specialized care.
TMH is recognized by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) as an Accredited Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI and Resuscitation— the highest level of accreditation for chest pain centers.
The PCI designation means that we use a specialized treatment called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) as the primary treatment for acute heart attacks. This ensures that patients experiencing an acute heart attack receive rapid treatment in the cardiac cath lab to minimize damage to the heart muscle. The resuscitation designation refers to our robust hypothermia program for post-cardiac arrest patients, which is designed to temporarily lower a patient's body temperature to reduce the risk of brain damage.
One in four heart attack victims will have a severe enough heart attack to require PCI in order to open clogged arteries and restore blood flow to the heart.
To qualify for the PCI and Resuscitation designation, a hospital must demonstrate its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria. If these requirements are met, the American College of Cardiology then conducts an on-site evaluation.
Criteria for Accreditation:
- Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
- Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly and continually improving treatment processes and procedures
- Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
- Having a robust hypothermia program for post-cardiac arrest patients
- Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel have a high level of competency and training
- Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
- Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack
TMH has earned accreditation from the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) for Echocardiography in the areas of Adult Transesophageal and Adult Transthoracic, and for Vascular Testing in the area of Extracranial Cerebrovascular Testing.
Accreditation by the IAC means TMH has undergone an intensive application and review process and is found to be in compliance with the published IAC Standards, thus demonstrating a commitment to quality patient care in echocardiography and vascular testing. Comprised of a detailed self-evaluation followed by thorough review by a panel of medical experts, the IAC accreditation process enables the critical operational and technical components of the facility to be assessed, including representative case studies and their corresponding final reports.
U.S. News & World Report named TMH a High-Performing Hospital in the field of Heart Failure.
A hospital's heart failure score is based on multiple data categories, including patient outcomes, volume and more. Hospitals that earn a high-performing rating performed significantly better than the national average. U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and information, including its annual authoritative rankings of Best Hospitals.
TMH has been designated a Blue Distinction Center+ for Cardiac Care by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.
Blue Distinction Centers+ for Cardiac Care provide a full range of inpatient cardiac care services; including coronary artery bypass graft surgery, heart valve surgery and angioplasty (percutaneous coronary intervention). These Centers demonstrate better quality care and improved patient outcomes, including lower complication rates following certain cardiac procedures.
Neurosurgery
TMH has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s (AHA/ASA) Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
TMH is recognized with the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Comprehensive Stroke Certification, the highest level of accreditation awarded to fewer than 1% of hospitals in the country. As a Comprehensive Stroke Center, TMH offers rapid stroke patient assessment and the most advanced stroke treatment available from expert physicians who are specially trained in their fields.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association [BCBSA] has selected TMH as a Blue Distinction Center+ for Spine Surgery, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Blue Distinction Centers® are nationally designated healthcare facilities that show a commitment to delivering high-quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations.
Oncology
Commission on Cancer (CoC) accreditation ensures Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) and the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center have demonstrated our investment in providing our patients with high-quality, coordinated cancer care, as well as supportive services and resources addressing the full continuum of care in our community. Our organization undergoes an on-site visit and review every three years to ensure compliance with CoC standards.
Orthopedic
The American Orthopaedic Association has recognized TMH as an Own the Bone ® Star Performer.
The American Orthopaedic Association’s Own the Bone® program is a national post-fracture, systems-based, multidisciplinary fragility fracture prevention initiative. The ultimate goal is to change physician and patient behavior to reduce incidence of future fractures and positively impact osteoporosis treatment.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has selected TMH as a Blue Distinction ® Center+ for Knee and Hip Replacement, part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program.
Blue Distinction® Centers are nationally designated healthcare facilities that show a commitment to delivering high-quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community.
Sleep Medicine
Since 1977, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Standards for Accreditation have been the gold standard by which the medical community and the public evaluate sleep medicine facilities. Achieving AASM accreditation demonstrates Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s (TMH) commitment to high-quality, patient-centered care through adherence to these standards.
Surgery
TMH is home to the region’s largest and most experienced surgical team and is the first hospital in the region to receive accreditation as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery by the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC). TMH proudly provides the highest quality of care to its patients undergoing robotic surgery.
Women & Children
TMH is the Big Bend region’s first facility recognized by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program as a National Certified Gold Safe Sleep Champion – the highest level of infant safe sleep certification. As a Nationally Certified Safe Sleep Hospital, TMH follows the safe sleep guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and provides training programs for healthcare colleagues and family caregivers in order to help prevent the unfathomable loss of a child due to sleep-related death.
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has become the first in the Big Bend region, to be designated a Baby-Friendly Hospital as part of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, which is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Baby-Friendly Hospitals are recognized for offering optimal care for mother/baby bonding and infant feeding.
TMH is the only facility in the Big Bend region to be awarded the Asthma-Friendly Hospital designation by the Florida Asthma Coalition (FAC). TMH is one of five hospitals in Florida to be identified as an Asthma-Friendly Hospital by FAC. Asthma-Friendly Hospitals are recognized for creating a safe and healthy environment for their patients with asthma.
