Editor's Note ECRI Institute announced July 17 that it will continue providing services of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) National Guideline Clearinghouse (NCG), which was shut down because of lack of funding. The federal government has relied on ECRI Institute to maintain the NCG since its inception…

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The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has released a sterilization standard on quality management for central service (CS) sterile processing. The new standard, ANSI/AAMI ST90: 2017 Processing of Health Care Products: Quality Management Systems for Processing in Health Care Facilities, provides guidelines to support quality management systems…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on April 11 released the top 5 requirements identified most frequently as “not compliant” during surveys and reviews that took place from January 1 to December 31, 2017. New to the table is data on Perinatal Care Certification. The top 5 for Hospital Accreditation are:…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on April 4 that it is no longer scoring two elements of performance (EPs), effective March 9, that were removed from the Medication Compounding chapter in the Home Care Accreditation program standards manual and the Compounding Sterile and Nonsterile Preparations chapter in the Medication…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 14 announced that three revised requirements across the Life Safety (LS) and Environment of Care (EC) chapters went into effect March 11. The revisions are: LS.02.01.30, element of performance (EP) 13, is designed to maintain alignment with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission is revising its standards to better address risks related to fluoroscopy in the Ambulatory Care, Critical Access Hospital, Hospital, and Office-Based Surgery accreditation programs. The changes are being made to further promote patient safety and quality of care in addition to aligning the accreditation requirements…

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Editor's Note Joint Commission Resources on January 17 released the 2018 Hospital Compliance Assessment Checklist, a self-assessment workbook designed to help organizations with standards compliance and survey readiness. In addition to hospital standards and elements of performance (EP), this year’s Checklist includes: High-level prompts to promote staff discussion and cultivate…

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Editor's Note Joint Commission Resources announced on January 3 the release of two new publications to help organizations comply with requirements for accreditation. “Medical Staff Essentials” breaks down difficult concepts in the Medical Staff (MS) standards. “Root Cause Analysis in Health Care: Tools and Techniques” provides a systematic approach to…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on December 20, 2017, posted new and revised standards that go into effect in January 2018. Included are: Life Safety Code revisions that address topics such as testing of emergency lighting systems and inspection and testing of piped medical gas and vacuum systems. Medication Management…

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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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