Answer the 5 Questions Below.

Most hospitals are accredited by The Joint Commission. Standards developed by this organization are used by management as benchmarks and requirements for performance. Organizations are surveyed every three years (two for laboratories) by a team from The Joint Commission. Joint Commission surveyors are highly trained experts and include doctors, nurse, hospital administrators, laboratory medical technologists and other health care professionals.

Organizations are committed to achieving a high level of accreditation and following the standards. Medicare and Medicaid use the Joint Commission Accreditation achievement as a condition of participation. Therefore, a loss of accreditation can seriously impact an organization.

The Joint Commission suspended all regular on-site surveys March 16 – May 31, 2020. Processes were developed during this time to conduct offsite or virtual survey events. They are currently offering some facilities (based on eligibility) offsite survey options.

Mission and Vision of Joint Commission

The mission of The Joint Commission is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. Its vision is that all people always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings.1

https://www.jointcommission.org/about-us/

Please use The Joint Commission website (www.jointcommission.org)

to explore their role in accreditation and certification in the healthcare sector.

Select About Us

Review Facts About the Joint Commission

Review Joint Commission FAQ’s

Select Accreditation & Certification, Click on Accreditation & Certification on the left hand side.

Review Accreditation and Certification information

Select and Review Why The Joint Commission1. When was the Joint Commission founded? How many health care organizations does it accredit and certify?

2. How many accreditation standards are there and what areas do they address?

3. There are a few benefits of choosing Joint Commission accreditation. If you were a hospital administrator, which benefit of Joint Commission accreditation would you find most appealing?

Select Our Websites from the top of the page, select Joint Commission Quality Check

Select a hospital you know to place in the search box (ie Lehigh Valley Hospital, Geisinger, Hackensack, etc) and click on “Search” and select the appropriate facility to learn how these organizations have done on their recent survey. Organizations work hard to achieve accreditation but often receive areas that they must prepare an action plan for improvements.

1. Which organization did you view? When were they last evaluated? What is their accreditation status? Do they have any Certifications?

The Joint Commission website offers Coronavirus Resources (link at the top of the page). This page provides resources as well as some personal stories of Joint Commission enterprise staff.

Scroll down towards the bottom of the page to Real Stories. Real Voices. Click on the View Storiesbutton. You will be taken to a page with several options, pick one story to read.

5. Which story did you select? What did you find interesting?