Joint Commission cites ‘continuous improvement’ as 2018 survey goal

When Medicare and Medicaid legislation was passed and signed into law in 1965, the US Congress formed the precursor federal agency to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to write the rules and regulations spelling out the “Conditions of Participation” (CoPs) required to obtain federal funding under these statutes. However, because the Joint Commission already had a hospital standards manual at the time, a deal was struck that CMS would more or less adopt the Joint Commission standards, and, in return, the Joint Commission was granted “deemed” status (ie, certified by CMS to survey hospitals to determine if they comply with the CoPs).