KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Kadena’s medical clinic recently got top marks in a comprehensive Air Force inspection.

Last week the 18th Medical Group was evaluated by the Air Force Inspection Agency, which conducts reviews of the service’s medical facilities every three years to make sure each one is delivering quality care.

The agency rated the clinic “excellent,” just shy of the best grade of “outstanding” — a ranking no Air Force medical facility has achieved in the last two years. “Excellent” also was Kadena’s rating for its last inspection in November 2003.

“It’s not a snapshot picture of performance,” said Col. Kelley Kash, commander of the 18th Medical Group. “We must have a two-year track record of meeting all the criteria.”

The inspectors do an in-depth review of 17 areas, such as operational medicine, worker protection, dentistry and behavioral health.

“It’s a very exacting evaluation” that takes a full week, Kash said.

For example, the inspectors review a sampling of medical records, going over each case from beginning to end to ensure that all the proper steps were taken to best care for the patient.

In the broad inspection the agency didn’t identify any areas of concern, but Kash said the clinic is always looking for opportunities to improve. Updating the antiquated phone system is one improvement on the list for this year, he said.

A civilian agency, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, also evaluated the clinic last week. The Air Force voluntarily gets civilian accreditation and the results of that evaluation will be released in 45 days.

Kash calls the civilian accreditation “especially important.”

“It holds us to our civilian counterparts’ standards,” he said. “And military facilities normally compare very favorably.”