Attaining Accreditation in Boulder County, Colorado: Policy and Procedures and Quality Assurance

The purpose of this project is for the Boulder County Coroner’s Office (BCCO) to write and finalize all policies and procedures required by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) standards and develop and implement a Quality Assurance Program for the BCCO which includes all quality assurance policies, procedures, and measurements required by NAME standards. This is BCCO’s first step towards applying for NAME accreditation. In Colorado, there are 63 coroner offices and of those, only four are NAME accredited.

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office will hire an Accreditation Specialist (AS) to manage the project. The AS will be responsible for tracking NAME standards requiring written policy and procedures and/or quality assurance measures; analyzing current policies and procedures to identify deficiencies and work to correct those deficiencies; develop and implement new policies and procedures that align with the NAME recommendations and requirements, and work with management to develop and implement a quality assurance program. 

The BCCO ultimately seeks so to apply for the NAME accreditation by the end of the project. There are many steps that will lead up to this, including analyzing current policies, procedures and quality assurance measures as well as developing and implementing new policies and procedures that align with NAME recommendations and meet NAME standards. Applying to NAME is the final step to acquire and maintain NAME accreditation which places the BCCO in compliance with nationally recognized standards. This achievement supports Boulder County’s model of providing the best in public service to its community.

Located in Boulder County, Colorado, the BCCO serves 726 square miles and is made up of a portion of the Rocky Mountain National Park and nine metropolitan cities including Boulder, Erie, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Lyons, Nederland, Superior, and Ward.  According to the most recent United States census bureau data, the 2022 population was reported to be approximately 338,000 which was a ten-year increase of 13.32%. In addition, the BCCO offers coroner services including postmortem forensic examinations to two Colorado counties and these services cover an additional 1,015 square miles of rural Colorado and a population of 40,387 in the counties of Summit and Clear Creek.

This accreditation project will support the BCCO’s efforts to nationally standardize its practices, and in turn will benefit the law enforcement jurisdictions, the judicial districts, the rural mountain counties, and the residents of Boulder County that BCCO serves.