DaVita Hospital Services receives Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation

DaVita®, a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (NYSE: DVA) and a leading provider of kidney care services, today announced that DaVita Hospital Services^SM, the company's inpatient kidney care services, has received Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation from The Joint Commission.

“Simply put, this accreditation makes DaVita the partner of choice for hospitals”

DaVita Hospital Services is the first-ever inpatient kidney care services provider to receive Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation. DaVita worked with The Joint Commission to understand the application of Joint Commission ambulatory standards relevant to efforts to improve safety and quality of inpatient kidney care and dialysis therapies.

"Simply put, this accreditation makes DaVita the partner of choice for hospitals," said Dr. Robert Provenzano, vice president of medical affairs at DaVita. "These standards will help DaVita assist our hospital partners in risk management, survey preparedness and enhancements to the quality and safety of patient care."

The Joint Commission surveyed more than 175 DaVita inpatient kidney care sites over the course of two and a half months to determine the validity of the accreditation.

"We are honored that The Joint Commission's review determined that DaVita's standards for inpatient kidney care services set the bar for the industry," said Dennis Kogod, COO of DaVita. "We thank our teammates who helped make this happen and The Joint Commission for its thorough review, analysis and hard work. We are proud to have earned their seal of accreditation."

The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 20,000 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.

"Accreditation validates DaVita's commitment to continuous quality improvement and supports the commitment of their hospital partners to quality and safety for their patients, staff and community," said Michael Kulczycki, executive director, Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation, The Joint Commission.

DaVita nurses administer inpatient kidney care services in the hospital setting. Inpatient kidney care services performed by DaVita Hospital Services include acute hemodialysis for chronic end stage renal patients and those admitted to the hospital with acute renal failure; peritoneal dialysis for current dialysis patients as well as patients who are hospitalized with newly diagnosed kidney failure; apheresis, a therapy to remove a patient's blood and separate out certain components; ultrafiltration, a therapy that removes excess salt and water to alleviate fluid overload; and continuous renal replacement therapy, which is a slower form of dialysis performed over the course of 24 hours.