Editor's Note The Joint Commission on December 12 posted its summary of changes to accreditation and certification decision rules for all programs for 2018. Changes include initial accreditation, reaccreditation, and certification. The decision rules are effective for surveys and reviews beginning January 1, 2018.   Joint Commission requirement. Read More…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on December 6 announced that revisions are continuing to be made to the Life Safety (LS) and Environment of Care (EC) chapters of its accreditation manuals. The revisions are a result of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ adoption of the 2012 editions of…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 29 announced a new software tool, “Tracers with AMPTM plus CMS,” to help hospitals and critical access hospitals manage their Joint Commission accreditation and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) compliance efforts. The tool is a web-based platform that stores a hospital’s…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission has selected Chicago-based Apervita’s platform to enable thousands of hospitals with ORYX data reporting requirement to directly submit electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data in 2018, the November 14 Healthcare Informatics reports. Since the shift to eCQM data submission began 2 years ago, the Joint…

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Editor's Note Despite the expansion of requirements for electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) reporting to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an increased number of Joint Commission accredited hospitals are adopting and reporting eCQMs to drive quality improvement, the Joint Commission reports.  In 2016, 470 accredited hospitals submitted eCQM…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 8 announced the update of its Patient Blood Management standards to align with AABB standards. Among the changes: educational requirements for those who order and/or transfuse blood defined guidelines on transfusion orders procedures for emergent/urgent patients, including massive blood loss intraoperative methods for…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 3 updated its emergency management requirements for hospital, ambulatory, home health, and hospice settings, effective November 15. The updated standards will assist healthcare organizations in more effectively planning for disasters and coordinate with federal, state, tribal, regional, and local emergency preparedness systems. The…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced November 1 that it is redesigning its Accreditation and Certification reports to be more user-friendly.  The redesigned reports will highlight the most relevant information about surveys and reviews, outcomes, and required follow-ups. Additional changes include: removing unnecessary white space and repetitive text prioritizing and grouping…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 25 announced a new Sentinel Event Alert video on Preventing Unintended Retained Foreign Objects, also known as retained surgical items (RSIs). The new video with Erin Lawler, a human factors engineer from the Joint Commission, explains how to maximize safety in the OR…

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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…

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