Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 20 announced the top five most challenging requirements for the first half of 2017. The top five requirements identified most frequently as “not compliant” during surveys and reviews for hospital accreditation were: 86%--LS.02.01.35: The hospital provides and maintains systems for extinguishing fires. 74%--LS.02.01.30:…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 13 announced a new Sentinel Event Alert that focuses on inadequate hand-offs and tips to improve them. A common problem with hand-offs is communication, which is the focus of “Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 58: Inadequate hand-off communication.” The alert includes an infographic of…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on August 30 that because of flooding in Houston and surrounding areas, it is temporarily suspending accreditation survey activity for organizations severely affected by Hurricane Harvey. Joint Commission Online Weekly Newsletter

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission has issued a new R3 Report to help accredited hospitals better understand and comply with its new and revised pain management standards, which are effective January 1, 2018. This R3 Report provides in-depth rationale, references, and evidence used in the development of the new and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced August 21 that Standard PI.02.01.03: “The hospital improves its performance on ORYX accountability measures” and the Standard's one Element of Performance: “The hospital achieves a composite performance rate of at least 85% on the ORYX accountability measures transmitted to the Joint Commission” will be…

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Editor's Note This study from the Joint Commission finds that criteria for assessing whether outcome measures are accurate and valid enough to use for public reporting, payment, and accreditation are not well-defined. The authors propose four criteria to assess outcome measures: Strong evidence should exist that good medical care leads…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 16 announced a new Quick Safety that focuses on noise and distractions in the OR and how they can make it difficult to hear and discern information or communicate effectively. ORs are prone to high levels of noise, which can be distracting and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 19 announced that the University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, is the first hospital in the nation to achieve its Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC) Certification. To achieve certification, hospitals must demonstrate compliance with consensus-based standards, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for cardiac care,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 12 announced revisions to its Medication Management standards that will become effective January 1, 2018. Among the revisions: Implementing a policy to provide emergency backup of medication dispensing equipment. Adding “wasting” of medication to required written policies. Implementing a policy for medication overrides…

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Editor's Note Four new performance measures are available for the Joint Commission’s Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) advanced certification program, the Joint Commission announced on July 5. They are: THKR-1 Regional anesthesia THKR-2 Postoperative ambulation on the day of surgery THKR-3 Discharged to home THKR-4 Preoperative functional/health status…

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