If you have been in the hospital or on our website lately, you may have noticed that we have recently been accredited by AAHA. So what some of you might be wondering is… who/what is AAHA and why is Frontier interested in membership and accreditation with that particular organization? There are many reasons, and in this blog post, I will answer those questions!
The American Animal Hospital Association has been supporting veterinary practitioners since 1933 by providing them with the resources needed to successfully meet the public’s needs with regard to small animal veterinary medicine. AAHA provides DVMs (Doctors of Veterinary Medicine) with medical and professional standards, staff training and resources, client care education, and small business information on topics specific to veterinary medicine. All of this information is invaluable to veterinary practice owners as business management training is not offered in veterinary school.
As members of AAHA prior to our accreditation, we were able to access many of those same resources. Many veterinary practices, however, choose to take their membership to the next level and become accredited hospitals. In late 2011, I made Frontier’s AAHA accreditation a goal for 2012. To reach this goal, there were almost 900 different standards that needed to be met. Due to the progressive nature of our practice, we were fortunate that many of these standards were already a part of our operations and organizational standards here at Frontier. However, there were about sixty areas that the team and I adopted and developed for the accreditation and inspection process.
Even though we were well-prepared, I must admit the weeks leading up to our inspection were nail-biters! Only fifteen percent of all veterinary practices are AAHA accredited and we really wanted to join that special group. Nine hundred standards to pass – yikes! But when the accreditation day finally arrived, we passed with flying colors!
Going forward, we are excited to partner with AAHA to bring the newest and the best medical and ethical standards, ancillary products and services, client care and support, and human resources management to our patients, clients, and staff. We are also looking forward to giving back to AAHA through membership on their committees and board, and the exchange of ideas with other like-minded accredited practices. If you ever have any questions about AAHA, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
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