Joint Commission issues new Heads-Up Report on challenges presented by COVID-19

Editor's Note

The Joint Commission on October 21 issued a new Heads-Up Report on challenges that accredited organizations are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Report topics include:

• Hospital and critical access hospital emergency privileges
• Ambulatory healthcare competency assessments
• Behavioral healthcare identification of environmental risks for suicide
• Laboratory record keeping for proficiency testing
• Home care plans of care
• Nursing care centers proactive risk assessments
• Office-based surgery competency assessments.

The Report is posted in the “Resources and Tools” section of an accredited organization’s secure Joint Commission Connect extranet site. Primary accreditation contacts are encouraged to distribute these reports to those in their organizations who are involved in identified processes and are empowered to mitigate potential risks, the Joint Commission says.