Editor's Note On September 17, World Patient Safety Day, The Joint Commission is partnering with the World Health Organization in recognizing the shared commitment to safe, equitable, high quality care for all and asks all accredited organizations and partners to join in the recognition. This year’s theme, “Engaging patients for…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 23, announced that updated Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports are available for hospitals, critical access hospitals, and nursing centers. The reports provide performance measurement data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on a select subset of quality measures through the second quarter…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 22, announced changes to its hospital accreditation program to better align with critical access hospital (CAH) program changes and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs), effective January 1, 2024. The changes include: New Elements of Performance on compliance…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced, on August 22, that it had revised its requirements related to medication compounding for accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals, effective January 1, 2024. The revisions include Element of Performance (EP) 3 for National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) NPSG.03.04.01: "Label all medications, medication containers,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 16, announced a strategic affiliation with the National Quality Forum (NQF) in an effort to accelerate improvements across the continuum of patient care and change the focus from competing measures to advancing key outcomes. The NQF will maintain its independence in developing consensus-based…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 15, issued “Sentinel Event Alert 67: Preserving patient safety after a cyberattack.” The Alert focuses on risks associated with cyberattacks and provides recommendations on how healthcare organizations can deliver safe patient care if a cyberattack occurs. Actions suggested by The Joint Commission include:…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 9, announced that it is revising a performance measure for the advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR) Certification Program—THKR-5: Postoperative Functional/Health Status Assessment—to align with a similar Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measure. The recently adopted CMS performance measure—Hospital-Level,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 9, announced the publication of a new guide from Joint Commission Resources (JCR) that provides basic knowledge and awareness for healthcare workers (HCWs) about the ways in which patients are diverse. The guide focuses on aspects of diversity that include ethnicity, race, culture,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on August 2, announced that it had updated its Health Care Equity (HCE) Accreditation Standards & Resource Center and its HCE Certification Resource Center. A new resource available in the HCE Accreditation Standards & Resource Center is an On Demand Accelerate PI Webinar that provides…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on July 20, announced that it will eliminate and consolidate 200 additional standards, following the first reduction announced last year. Among the changes: Critical Access Hospitals: Of 150 in-scope elements of performance (EPs), 31 were deleted or consolidated, for a 15% reduction Office-Based Surgery: Of…

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