The Gabel Center was awarded the prestigious 3-year accreditation status which is the highest level an organization can achieve. This means that the Gabel Center has met rigorous, nationally recognized standards of quality of health care and requirements set forth by AAAHC.
Prior to an on-site visit, the Gabel Center spent over a year preparing the entire organization for the standards of care that are required by AAAHC. Once these were met, we had a thorough, on-site visit by a representative from AAAHC who examined every aspect of the practice from the physical structure requirements (emergency medical equipment, backup power supply, medications that many offices do not have), our policy and procedures manual, patient care forms, consents, employee certifications, staff training, and quality improvement studies. We were recently notified that the Gabel Center received an outstanding result with the 3-year accreditation status. 
“I believe our patients are entitled to the best possible care that can be delivered,” says Steven Gabel, MD, FACS, the owner and medical director of the Gabel Center. “That is why we choose to become accredited by AAAHC, which I believe is the gold standard for office-based surgical practices. Obtaining the accreditation was not easy – the team and I worked extremely hard to achieve accreditation, and it is all for the benefit of our patients. I want our patients to know that when they come to the Gabel Center, they are getting the best possible care in a very safe environment verified by an outside agency. It is one thing to just tell our patients that we provide great care; it is another thing to be able to show our patients that we had an outside agency with very demanding requirements evaluate our practice and deem it worthy of the highest level of accreditation. We are all very proud of this accomplishment.”
The real value of AAAHC accreditation comes from the ongoing commitment to patient care, according to Dr. Gabel. “Just because we have achieved our accreditation, that does not mean we can relax our standards. In order to maintain our accreditation, we have to continue to follow the guidelines as set forth by AAAHC, and find even better ways to deliver top-notch care through quality improvement studies and continued feedback surveys from our patients.”
A History of AAAHC from their website:
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) was founded in 1979 to:
“encourage and assist ambulatory health care organizations to provide the highest achievable level of care for recipients in the most efficient and economically sound manner. AAAHC accomplishes this by the operation of a peer-based assessment, consultation, education and accreditation program.”
The six founding members of AAAHC were the American College Health Association, the American Group Practice Association (now known as the American Medical Group Association), the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (now known as the Ambulatory Surgery Foundation), the Group Health Association of America (now known as the American Association of Health Plans), the Medical Group Management Association, and the National Association of Community Health Centers. The growth of the Board has helped AAAHC add new Standards in areas such as dentistry, behavioral health, and health education and wellness, while continuously updating existing Standards to reflect cutting-edge ambulatory care knowledge and practice.
Since its inception, AAAHC has promoted a voluntary, peer-based, consultative, and educational survey process to advance patient care. These values hold true today, as embodied in the current mission statement:
Improving health care quality through accreditation.
