Joint Commission deletes 51 EPs

Editor's Note

The Joint Commission on September 27 announced that it has deleted 51 Elements of Performance (EPs) from its hospital accreditation standards, effective January 2017.

Reasons for deletion include:

• Similar to, implicit in, or duplicative of other EPs.
• Address issues that have been covered by standards for many years and are now a routine part of  operations, processes.
• Adequately addressed by law and regulation or other external requirements.

Through Phase II of the project to streamline the Hospital accreditation standards, The Joint Commission evaluated EPs in the Hospital program for possible deletion. As a result, 51 EPs were deleted effective January 2017.