The Office of the State Medical Examiner (OSME) received provisional accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). This is the first time the OSME has applied for accreditation and now becomes the 13th state medical examiner’s office to achieve accreditation.
NAME was founded in 1966 and is the national professional organization of physician medical examiners. The NAME Accreditation Program is a peer review system and its goal is to improve office performance through objective evaluation and constructive criticism by evaluating offices against NAME accreditation standards. Currently, 12 other states and 39 county/city medical examiner offices have achieved NAME accreditation in the United States. The Rhode Island Legislature passed legislation requiring the OSME to get and maintain NAME accreditation.
“I am very proud of the work of Dr. Gilson and his staff in making changes necessary to achieving NAME accreditation,” said Director of Health David R. Gifford, MD, MPH. “As one of only 13 states to achieve this accreditation, this should provide confidence to Rhode Islanders that the OSME is one of the top offices in the country.”
“NAME accreditation reflects the high standards that this office and staff strive to follow each and every day,” said Chief Medical Examiner Thomas Gilson, MD. “Maintaining accreditation will help to assure the highest quality of service to the people of Rhode Island.”
On an annual basis, the OSME investigates more than 5,000 deaths occurring in the state and conducts approximately 700 autopsies. In addition to criminal investigations, the OSME assists with child death review, fatal injury surveillance and several other public health issues. The latest annual report is available on HEALTH’s website at http://www.health.ri.gov/osme/annualreport2007.pdf