Environment of Care

ANTHC assists our Tribal health care partners in creating environments of care that meet the highest standards of health and safety. Our programs have expertise in Health Care Accreditation, Physical Environment and Infection Control that preserve the health of our people.

Health Care Accreditation
Health care-specific accreditation has become the industry standard. The Consortium’s Institutional Environmental Health program assists partners in the Alaska Tribal Health System with becoming accredited or complying with accreditation standards.

We provide current and relevant accreditation-specific guidance in the areas of environment of care, life safety, emergency preparedness and infection control. The ANTHC program maintains competencies in a number of accreditation programs including: Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS); The Joint Commission (TJC); The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC); College of American Pathologists (CAP); and other programs as required.

ANTHC provides accreditation-specific consultation services. Our staff conducts comprehensive surveys of health care facilities including mock accreditation surveys for Joint Commission Environment of Care standards, Emergency Management and Life Safety. We also assist health care facilities seeking accreditation status and keep facilities informed on the latest accreditation requirements. In addition, the program assists facilities with developing policies and procedures, and assists with infection control surveillance plans.

Physical Environment
The maintenance of the physical environment of care is important for visitors to our health care facilities. ANTHC provides a broad range of support and assistance identifying and addressing findings in the physical environment at facilities we serve.

The program assists our partners in developing programs for regularly conducting environmental tours of their health care facilities, as well as providing guidance on standards, best practices and accreditation requirements. The ANTHC consultants are familiar with the guidelines and requirements from the Facilities Guidelines Institute (FGI), International Code Council (ICC), National Fire Protection Administration (NFPA), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to provide the most up-to-date and accurate technical consultation.
Common safety findings during environmental tours in health care facilities

Infection Control
The ANTHC Institutional Environmental Health program offers assistance to partner infection control programs within the Alaska Tribal Health System. Our staff provides and coordinates infection control training opportunities and organize infection control meetings that bring Service Infection Control Officers together.

We are also available to train personnel to perform respirator fit testing for N-95 respirators and fit testing for other types of respirators as needed.

In addition, the program assists with trend analysis and epidemiological studies and they also help plan implementation of new regulations or guidelines.