Student Health Care Center receives three-year accreditation

May 27, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida Student Health Care Center has received a three-year accreditation by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, one of only 400 student health centers that has received this designation from the agency.

Status as an accredited organization means the SHCC has met nationally recognized standards for the provision of quality health care set by the AAAHC. Ambulatory health care organizations seeking accreditation by the AAAHC undergo an extensive self-assessment and on-site survey by AAAHC expert surveyors.

“We are among an increasing percentage of student health care centers that are accredited,” said Dr. Phillip Barkley, director of the Student Health Care Center. “This assures our patients, their parents, the faculty and staff, and the university community that we have followed a set of standards and have met those standards. We take quality and patient care very seriously and want to do our job in the most excellent way possible.”

Achieving voluntary accreditation by AAAHC since the 1980s, Barkley said the process helps the SHCC measure itself against the best health care institutions in the country.

“It sets in motion for us to be a continually learning organization, a continually improving organization,” he said. “I am just really proud of our organization and proud of the people who work at Student Health. They are all committed to excellence in student health care.”