WOONSOCKET, R.I. — MinuteClinic has achieved its third straight reaccreditation from The Joint Commission, a national health care evaluation and certifying agency.

The CVS Health walk-in medical clinic subsidiary said Thursday that earning The Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval demonstrates its compliance with the organization’s national standards for ambulatory health care quality and safety.

Valid for up to a three-year period, the accreditation applies to MinuteClinic’s 1,050 locations inside CVS/pharmacy stores in 33 states and the District of Columbia.

Following The Joint Commission’s usual survey process, on-site evaluations were conducted at MinuteClinic locations nationwide.  A team of Joint Commission expert surveyors evaluated MinuteClinic for compliance with standards in such areas as coordination of care, infection prevention and control, management of medications and patient education.

CVS noted that the reaccreditation comes 10 years after MinuteClinic became the first national retail clinic provider to be accredited by The Joint Commission.

“Since 2006, we have participated in the rigorous accreditation process carried out by The Joint Commission to validate the high clinical quality and safety standards we strive to achieve at all MinuteClinic locations across the United States,” MinuteClinic president Andrew Sussman, who’s also executive vice president and associate chief medical officer CVS Health, said in a statement. “With patient satisfaction ratings of 95% and clinical collaborations with more than 60 leading health systems throughout the country, we have demonstrated a consistent record of quality and coordination of care unsurpassed in the retail clinic industry.”

An estimated 2,100 organizations currently maintain Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation from The Joint Commission.

“The Joint Commission accreditation provides ambulatory care organizations with the processes contributing to improvements in a variety of areas from the enhancement of staff education to the demonstration of leading practices within the ambulatory setting,” stated Michael Kulczycki, executive director of The Joint Commission’s Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation program. “We commend MinuteClinic for its efforts to become a quality improvement organization, and achieving this pinnacle demonstrating a commitment to patient safety and quality.”