Editor's Note In response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) interim final rule regarding COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers (HCWs), The Joint Commission has approved a new Infection Prevention and Control (IC) Standard IC.02.04.02 and new elements of performance, the regulator announced on April 27. The new…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association, on April 20, announced the launch of a Comprehensive Heart Attack Center certification program, which recognizes hospitals providing care to the most complex and critically ill patients. To be certified, hospitals must provide 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week on-site coverage for primary percutaneous…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum, on April 20, announced the 2021 recipients of the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards, which recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and healthcare quality. The awardees are: Individual Achievement Awardee: Hardeep Singh, MD,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on March 30, announced the availability of new Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and nursing care centers (NCCs). The Reports provide updated performance measurement data on a select subset of quality measures. The ASC reports contain data through the fourth quarter…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on March 30, announced that it had contracted with Dynamic Health IT to help develop a new Direct Data Submission Platform (DDSP) and electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) engine. The DDSP will facilitate submission of quality measurement data directly to The Joint Commission from approximately…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 23 announced that it is developing new and revised requirements on reducing healthcare disparities for its accreditation programs. A field review is open and seeking comments on the proposed new Leadership (LD) standard LD.04.03.08 as well as revisions to the Record of Care,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission recently released a Sentinel Event Data summary that includes a 2021 update and the 10 most common sentinel events reported to the accreditation body last year, the February 22 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Only a small portion of all sentinel events are reported to The…

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Editor's Note In addition to education required to maintain licensure and certifications, each practitioner privileged through the medical staff process is expected to participate in hospital-sponsored continuing education, The Joint Commission says in a February 16 answer to a frequently asked question (FAQ) on accreditation requirements. The education is based…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 14 issued a new Quick Safety on “Ensuring critical instruments and devises are appropriate for reuse.” The Quick Safety highlights reprocessing guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as special considerations for single use devices reprocessed by third parties that…

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Each year, there are more studies raising concerns about infections associated with endoscopic procedures and the techniques used to clean and sterilize or high-level disinfect (HLD) endoscopic devices. In this article, in partnership with Boston Scientific, epidemiologist Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, president and CEO of Ofstead & Associates, St Paul,…

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