• For Patients & Visitors       • For Physicians       • For Employees
St. Anthony”s Medical Center: Advanced Medicine. Compassionate Care.

printer iconprint page

Acute Rehabilitation Unit

What CARF Said About St. Anthony's

In 2008, St. Anthony’s Acute Rehab department received – a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), an international, not-for-profit organization that accredits human services providers based on quality of services. Here's what they found:

See news release
CARF: Commission on Acreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities Logo

Program Strengths

  • St. Anthony's Medical Center provides a warm and caring setting for rehabilitation.
  • The rooms are large and comfortable.
  • There is a transitional apartment available for persons served and their families to practice activities of daily living skills before discharge.
  • Persons served are able to go into the community, and home visits are made to ensure smooth transitions.
  • The staff members are well trained, loyal, and clearly happy that they are part of the St. Anthony's Medical Center team. They are knowledgeable of all aspects of the program's operations and communicate well to one other and to other staff members in the hospital.
  • The rehabilitation team has extensive expertise and experience in the treatment of persons served within the rehabilitation program, and the organization is complimented for its ongoing support for staff members to increase their knowledge.
  • The medical staff support at St. Anthony's Medical Center is a strength of the program. Physicians are consistently available, approachable, and responsive to the needs of staff members.
  • The communication systems in place to ensure the continuity of care of the person served are a strength of the organization. Communication systems include the morning rounds, team conference, communication boards, staff meetings, and consistent informal communication among all staff members.
  • The customer service recognition program that St. Anthony's Medical Center provides is a strength of the organization.
  • The heart cards, which encourage staff-to-staff or persons served-to-staff recognition, as well as, the scratch-off cards demonstrate a strong commitment from leadership to promote staff satisfaction.

Back to top

Upholding Exemplary Standards

The CARF surveyors also commended St. Anthony's Medical Center for demonstrating exemplary conformance to the standards.

  • The entire performance management system is exemplary in the care that each individual's job description and evaluation is given. Competencies are very carefully designed for each job,behavior is also specified for each job, and employees are evaluated on how they perform. Goals are set and followed, and raises are merit based. Employees' records are well organized and keep track of how goals are met, and new goals are set. The system is upgraded annually. All employees are part of committees that run the organization and buy into the process.
  • The leadership is commended for making a strong commitment to make performance improvement a priority in all aspects of running the program. The system is used in all aspects of operation, and staff understands the importance of its function and how the varying parts of the system relate to overall quality. This is a well-integrated system in all day-to-day activities.
  • St. Anthony's Medical Center is commended for taking input from persons served to create the In Stride program for amputees. This program is noteworthy in providing persons served with opportunities to personally evaluate prosthetic vendors as inpatients to determine the resource that will best meet their needs. It is also commendable how the program uses volunteer mentors to help provide support and meet the lifelong needs of the persons served.
  • The organization is commended for creating and supporting the therapeutic recreation position, which is well utilized for activities that are not usually addressed in this setting. The program itself is active in community reintegration, education of the person served, and unit activities.

Back to top

CARF Summary

On balance, St. Anthony's Medical Center continues to commit to utilizing CARF standards. It has plans for growth of current programs and expansion to new areas, and it has plans to obtain further CARF accreditations. It has a comprehensive performance improvement system, which it utilizes in all aspects of its operations.

The staff is well trained, and St. Anthony's Medical Center is justifiably proud of its low turnover rate. Communication among all members of its staff and between its staff and the hospital staff is a strength. Information is shared and decisions are made keeping in mind the best interests of the persons served.

The organization is fiscally sound, and careful planning is seen in all areas for the future. The staff is enthusiastic and happy to be a part of such a dynamic program. Opportunities for improvement exist in the areas of adding time lines to the accessibility plan and adding cultural diversity to the documented scope of care. It is apparent that the organization has the commitment and resources to address the recommendations noted.

St. Anthony's Medical Center has earned a Three-Year Accreditation. The staff is commended for its hard work as a team in preparing for CARF accreditation. The organization is encouraged to continue to use the CARF standards in the pursuit of service excellence.

Back to top


St. Anthony's Medical Center: graphic wave

For information or a physician referral, please call 800-554-9550 or visit our online physician referral.

At St. Anthony's, our vision is to be the area's premier health care organization — and your first choice for health care services.