Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 23 announced that a new Dashboard Report is now available for accredited ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The report provides performance measurement data on select measures and is intended to facilitate conversations on data, performance measures, and quality improvement during the survey process. Using…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 16 announced that it was seeking comments on proposed standards for the Advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Certification program for hospitals, critical access hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers. The new standards were developed to further promote patient safety and quality of…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced October 16 that several elements of performance for the Office-Based Surgery Accreditation program have been revised, effective January 1, 2020. The revisions, which are in the Environment of Care chapter, were made to align with 2012 Life Safety Code requirements and updated National Fire…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on Octobere 9 that the 2020 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are now available on its website. Included are the revised elements of performance “NPSG.15.01.01: Reduce the risk for suicide” that went into effect earlier this year. The new requirements are designed to improve…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on October 9 that it is reviewing discharge planning and burden reduction changes announced in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) final rules published September 30. Any changes to Joint Commission accreditation requirements for deemed programs will go through the CMS iterative…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 2 announced that it will be posting new survey readiness resource documents for its ambulatory, behavioral health, home care, nursing care center, and office-based surgery programs. These new Heads-Up Reports will be available October 4 on an organizations secure Joint Commission Connect extranet…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced October 2 that it will be retiring the Leading Practice Library December 31, 2019. These customer-submitted resources that were developed in 2008 to assist organizations in complying with complex standards have become outdated. Newer and higher quality resources are available on the Joint Commission…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on September 18 that the deadline for submitting applications for the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards is October 1. Started by the Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum (NQF) in 2002, the awards recognize the outstanding work of individuals and…

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Editor's Note Though recent guidelines mandating additional barrier attire for all scrubbed and unscrubbed OR personnel from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission, which include bouffant caps covering all hair and long-sleeved surgical attire covering all exposed skin, this study finds that this mandate does…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 11 announced that it had posted a new version of the Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC) Certification program’s standardized measures implementation guide on its website with updated measure specifications. Beginning January 1, 2020, data collection on five new inpatient performance measures will be mandatory…

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