Editor's Note US Representatives from California and Texas reintroduced the National Patient Safety Board (NPSB) Act, which aims to establish a public-private research and development team “dedicated to preventing and reducing healthcare-related harms." The March 11 announcement comes during Patient Safety Awareness Week, an annual awareness initiative focusing on the…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum (NQF) on February 14 announced the recipients of the 2023 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. The Awards recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and healthcare quality. This year’s recipients are: National Level Innovation…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission has released revised requirements for the advanced disease-specific care certification for total hip and total knee replacement (THKR). The requirements, which are designed to align with the updated AAOS clinical practice guidelines, go into effect July 1, 2024 and focus largely on addressing opioids and…

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Takeaways • The Joint Commission eliminated 56 redundant or outdated Elements of Performance, revised four others, and is using more checklists. • The Joint Commission is emphasizing healthcare equity and identifies it as a priority to address healthcare quality and safety, calling organizations to integrate health equity into their QAPI…

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Editor's Note Starting January 1, healthcare organizations must consider an expanded timeframe and range of care services when reporting patient suicide as a sentinel event to The Joint Commission. According to the December 13 announcement of the change to the organization’s Sentinel Event Policy, the revised definition “better reflects current…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced a new certification program in a December 5 Global Newswire press release. The new certification provides guidance to healthcare organizations on the safe transfer of patient data to third-party organizations.   The voluntary Responsible Use of Health Data (RUHD) Certification program aims to help hospitals…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 1 announced the release of the 2024 ORYX performance measure reporting requirements, which will be effective starting on January 1, 2024, for critical access hospitals and hospitals. In the new requirements, acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals must join The Joint Commission National…

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Editor's Note A new process has been put in place for uploading documents for all certification programs to The Joint Commission, the regulatory and accreditation agency reported on October 25. Required documents must now be uploaded to the organization’s Joint Commission Connect® extranet site, rather than to SharePoint. Any Joint…

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Editor's Note The University of Chicago Medicine has been awarded the 2023 Bernard J. Tyson National Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity for the success of its Systematic Treatment and Management of Postpartum Hypertension (STAMPP-HTN) program, The Joint Commission October 25 reports. According to The Joint Commission news…

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Editor's Note A new Sentinel Event Alert from The Joint Commission focuses on the continuing dangers of surgical fires, why they occur, and how to take preventative measures. The alert was issued on October 18. Some highlights include: There is no national repository collecting data on surgical fires, and little…

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