New Standards from Joint Commission Available
The new and revised performance standards, elements of performance, and rationales for 2009 were recently published by the Joint Commission. The new standards will take effect January 1st. They are already available for review online, to support examination by healthcare providers before the guidelines will go into effect.
The organization has been working on a Standards Improvement Initiative (SII), a program that initially commenced in 2006. This program is dedicated to quality improvements, an ongoing effort by the Commission.
The SII program is dedicated to ensuring that standards described are program-specific, consolidating standards that cover similar areas, eliminating standards that are either not essential or redundant, and clarifying the existing language to describe standards.
The changes in the new standards are intended to make such more applicable, relevant, and clear for practical use in the healthcare setting. The Commission suggests that these will enable healthcare facilities to better provide quality care to patients. The new guidelines include a history tracking report, which allows assessment of the changes to each standard.
Educational efforts are planned until the new standards go into effect to better assist facilities in their efforts to comply with such. The standards were developed by a team of both accredited and non-accredited healthcare organizations, as well as purchasers, payors, consumers, and advisory groups.
July 2, 2008 Related topics: Quality, Safety, Errors