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…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 21 announced an update of its policy on notification of changes in accredited organizations, which will take effect October 1. Previously, organizations had to notify the Joint Commission within 30 days after a significant change. The new policy requires organizations to provide written…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 7 released its 2017 ORYX Performance Measurement Reporting Requirements for accredited hospitals. Hospitals will report on 5 chart-abstracted measures and a choice of 6 of 13 electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs). Critical access and small hospitals may choose the six eCQMs from 13…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission is asking hospitals to share their discharge instructions and educational materials for patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) who are on anticoagulants. The Joint Commission’s Department of Health Services Research is soliciting this information as part of a research project. These materials may be used to develop…

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Editor's Note A human centered design approach to OR-to-ICU patient handoffs led to improvements in the patient handover process in this study. Researchers uncovered technical and communication flaws when receiving postoperative patients at the Durham, North Carolina, Veterans Affairs Medical Center surgical ICU. The handoff process was redesigned to address…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 31 released its top five most challenging requirements for the first half of 2016. The top five requirements cited most frequently as “not compliant” for hospitals during surveys and reviews from January 1 through June 30 are: 66% EC.02.06.01 The hospital establishes and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 10 released its updated sentinel event statistics through the second quarter of 2016. Of 439 sentinel events reviewed, two of the most frequently reported types of events in the second quarter were unintended retention of a foreign body (52 patients) and wrong-patient, wrong-site,…

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Editor's Note The Center for Orthopedic Research and Education (CORE Institute), a group of orthopedic surgeons and neurologists based in Phoenix, Arizona, will be collaborating with the Joint Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on an infection prevention initiative for freestanding ambulatory healthcare settings, the July…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 29 issued an urgent update to computed tomography (CT) technologist standards after receiving significant feedback from those concerned about the expectation for advanced-level CT certification and the potential impact on patient access to CT services if it was required by January 2018. The…

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Editor's Note A Joint Commission white paper issued June 27 dispels myths about the sharing of information with patients and their families. The aim of the paper, “Busting the myths about engaging patients and families in patient safety,” is to help organizations design more effective communication practices because open communication…

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