Joint Commission abandons proposed telehealth standards

Editor's Note

The Joint Commission has abandoned proposed amendments to its accreditation standards that would have required healthcare systems to obtain patient consent, confirm patient location, and predict a patient’s financial responsibility before providing telehealth services, the October 11 mHealth Intelligence reports.

The changes, which would have amended two existing standards and created one new one, were criticized as more stringent than state or federal guidelines.

The Joint Commission made the decision to not move forward with the proposed standards in early August.

The Joint Commission is scrapping proposed telehealth amendments to its accreditation standards that would have forced health systems to obtain patient consent and predict a patient's financial responsibility prior to services rendered. The proposed changes were unveiled in May "to account for direct-to-patient telehealth services," but abandoned in September after critics said the new standards would be more restrictive than any other state or federal telemedicine guidelines.

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