The National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) recently awarded full accreditation to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner. 

Pima County was among only 75 jurisdictions to be given full accreditation and the only office in Arizona to receive the top rating, the county said in a release. The office also received full accreditation in 2011.

NAME praised the Pima County office’s low per-capita funding of $1.30 per person, the release said. NAME also noted the placement of a separate refrigerated storage facility in Ajo due to the large size of Pima County as well as the office's online communications with local funeral homes as contributing factors to a high rate of efficiency.

“We view accreditation as a way to measure our policies, procedures, operations and personnel against national norms, and we are pleased to continue to provide the highest quality death investigation in Arizona to Pima County,” Pima County Chief Medical Examiner Greg Hess said in the release.

The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner also covers Cochise and Santa Cruz counties and performs overflow examinations for Apache, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Navajo, Pinal and Yuma counties.