JCAHO in the News

December 2002
(12/13/02) JCAHO NAMES 2002 ERNEST A. CODMAN AWARD WINNERS--JCAHO recently announced this year's organization and individual winners of the sixth annual Ernest A. Codman Award that recognizes excellence in the use of outcomes measurement by health care organizations to achieve improvements in the quality and safety of health care. Click here to read about the winners.

August 2002
(08/12/02) JCAHO To Finalize Medication Standards Next Spring-- The public unveiling of newly renamed medication-management standards from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has been delayed until at least next spring, but the standards are still on target for implementation in January 2004. Click here for full-text press release

(08/08/02) AHA Recommends Changes to JCAHO's Proposed Business Associate Afreement Model-- AHA recommended today several changes to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's proposed business associate agreement. Under the medical privacy rule established by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, JCAHO cannot receive protected health information from a hospital it is surveying for accreditation unless it enters into a business associate agreement with the hospital. JCAHO has proposed adding such an agreement as a uniform addendum to its Accreditation agreements for all health care organizations. However, according to a comment letter from AHA, some of the proposed provisions in the JCAHO model associate agreement are outside the scope of privacy rule requirements and "would impose unwarranted burdens and needless liabilities in hospitals." AHA also expressed concern that pending final changes to the privacy rule may impact the rule's business associate agreement requirements. It urged JCAHO to reexamine the model agreement and revise it with those finalchanges in mind. Click here for full-text press release.

(08/07/02) JCAHO Urges Steps To Improve Nurses' Lives-- Saying a national shortage of nurses already is endangering patients, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recommended immediate steps to improve the workplace environment and career potential of nurses as well as the standing of the profession. The measures, proposed in new report, include: limiting mandatory overtime to emergency situations; setting staffing levels based on patient acuity and required nursing skills; and having "zero tolerance" for abusive behavior toward nurses by physicians and other medical practitioners. The report projects the current shortage of an estimated 126,000 hospital nurses will grow to 400,000 by 2020. Nurse staffing levels factored in 24% of 1,609 sentinel events reported to the commission since 1997. Click here for full-text press release.

July 2002
(07.29.02) Starting in January 2003, all organizations seeking accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) will be surveyed for compliance with six patient-safety goals established last week by a JCAHO advisory group. Some of the goals relate directly or indirectly to improving the safety of the medication-use process. Click here for full-text press release.

(07/22/02) The Joint Commission's Board of Commissioners has approved for implementation effective January 1, 2003 a set of six National Patient Safety Goals representing 11 recommendations for improving the safety of patient care in health care organizations. Click here for full-text press release.

June 2002
(06/25/02) Joint Commission Resources Publishes Guide To Emergency Management Planning in HealthCare(Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) Joint Commission Resources (JCR) today announced the publication of Guide to Emergency Management Planning in Health Care. JCR is a subsidiary of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). This book gives health care organizations practical advice on designing, revising and implementing an emergency management plan that is flexible enough for a variety of disasters. It supports applicable JCAHO Management of Environment of Care, Management of Human Resources, Management of Information, Leadership and Medical Staff standards. Click here for full-text press release.

Joint Commission Debuts Enhanced Website-- (Oakbrook Terrace, IL - June 17, 2002) Consumers and health care organizations seeking the latest information on quality and safety will find new tools to aid their search beginning today on the website of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The fresh look of the JCAHO website is intended to allow users to find the information they need quickly and easily. The redesigned site emphasizes simple navigation with users' needs in mind. Click here to visit the new site.

(6/17/02) Sentinel events can occur in any department, not just EDs -- A new JCAHO sentinel event alert today shows that while hospital emergency departments are the source of a little more than half of all reported sentinel event cases of patient death or permanent injury due to delays in treatment, JCAHO sentinel event data reveal that such serious problems can occur in any hospital unit, as well as in other health care settings. Of the 55 reported cases of delays in treatment, 29 were ED-related, while 26 cases originated in hospital intensive care units, medical-surgical units, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, freestanding and hospital-based ambulatory care services, the operating room and in the home care setting. Of the 55 cases of delays in treatment, 52 resulted in patient death. Click here for full-text press release.

May 2002
(5/21/02) The National Quality Forum and JCAHO have started a patient safety awards program in memory of John M. Eisenberg, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality who died in March. Up to one award will be given annually in each of the following categories of achievement: individual lifetime, advocacy, system innovation, and research. Nominations must be submitted by July 15. Award winners will receive a glass sculpture in addition to the recognition. Click here for press release and nomination form.

(5/8/02) JCAHO Participates in Congressional Hearings on Patient Safety -- Joint Commission President Dennis S. O’Leary, M.D., testified today before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health, on private sector efforts to improve patient safety. As the nation’s predominant accrediting body, the Joint Commission has been in a unique position to both set expectations for patient safety across the entire spectrum of provider services and to measure adherence to those expectations. Click here for full-text of news release.

April 2002
(4/15/02) Joint Commission Appoints Sentinel Event Alert Advisory Group -- A group of experienced physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other patient safety experts has been appointed to advise JCAHO in the development of its first set of National Patient Safety Goals. The 22-member group is holding its inaugural meeting today in Chicago. Click here for full-text of news release.

March 2002
(3/20/02) JCAHO announced it will reintroduce patient-safety improvement requirements into the accreditation process beginning with organizations surveyed in 2003. In July the commission will establish six national patient-safety goals, derived from its newsletter Sentinel Event Alert, each consisting of one or two succinct, evidence-based or expert recommendations. Organizations will be surveyed for compliance with the recommendations or an acceptable alternative. Noncompliance will prompt a Type I recommendation for improvement. Click here for full-text of news release.

(3/14/02) Two of the nation’s leading advocates of health care quality and safety today launched a national campaign to urge patients to take a role in preventing health care errors. Dubbed "Speak Up," the groundbreaking program sponsored by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) encourages patients to become active, involved and informed participants on the health care team. The simple steps are based on research which shows that patients who take part in decisions about their health care are more likely to have better outcomes. Such efforts to increase consumer awareness and involvement are supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Click here for full-text of news release.

(3/13/02) The following are highlighted in the March JCAHO Online Monthly News Brief: Speak Up: National Campaign Urges Patients to Join Safety Effort; Joint Commission To Establish Six Annual National Patient Safety Goals; JCAHO Seeks to Identify Consensus Set of Intensive Care Measures; Joint Commission Awards First Disease-Specific Care Certificate In Nation; Staffing Effectiveness Standards Pilot Test Results; New Safety and Error Reduction Standards for BHC; Revised Emergency Management Standards for LTC; and, New Hospital Advisory Group. Click here for full-text of news brief.

February 2002
JCAHO has accepted an invitation from The Leapfrog Group to become a formal partner. This new partnering arrangement relationship cements a previously informal relationship with the health care purchaser group and means that The Leapfrog Group will seek JCAHO's input on its patient safety initiatives. In the first major collaboration effort between the two parties, the Joint Commission has begun work with Leapfrog leaders to pursue the identification of a specific set of ICU-related outcome and process measures. Click here for same text in JCAHO Online newsletter.

January 2002
(1/11/02) JCAHO is conducting a field review of standards for medication use that have been revised to increase the focus on patient safety. The field review, approved by the Standards and Survey Procedures Committee of the Board of Commissioners, is for hospitals, long term care facilities and ambulatory care organizations. The standards were devised with the input of two expert panels and follow recommendations to use a systems approach that focuses on safety. The revisions address the key processes of a medication use system, including: selection, procurement and storage prescribing or ordering and transcribing, preparation and dispensing, administration, and monitoring. The revised standards use evidence-based good practices and management of critical risk points in the system. Click here for full-text of press release.

(1/10/02) Joint Commission Resources, a subsidiary of JCAHO, is issuing a call to action for hospitals to submit good practice examples related to patient safety, sentinel events, staffing, care of patients and performance improvement. The examples will be used to establish a good practices subscription database, scheduled to debut online this year. The database will be limited initially to hospitals, with a pilot project for ambulatory, long term and home care organizations set for 2003. The database is intended to help health care organizations improve services by learning from the successes of others. Click here for full-text of press release.

December 2001
(12/17/01) JCAHO launches a new accreditation program for Critical Access Hospitals, with the first surveys conducted last month. Critical Access Hospitals, as outlined in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, are designed to provide limited, but essential health services to rural communities. These small facilities - patient census of less than 25 - are certified for cost-based reimbursement from the Medicare program. More than 400 existing hospitals nationwide have already converted to Critical Access Hospital status and as many as 1,100 organizations may be eligible for this designation. The new accreditation program is designed to meet the performance improvement and business needs of these particular hospitals, many of which are currently accredited by JCAHO as acute care hospitals. Critical Access Hospitals will be surveyed for compliance with standards specifically adapted for these organizations, and that are in conformance with the Medicare requirements for these special hospitals. Click here for full-text of press release.

(12/5/01) Surgeries on the wrong site, or on the wrong patient, or performance of the wrong procedure on a patient are completely preventable and should never happen, according to a special alert issued today by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to nearly 18,000 health care facilities nationwide. Click here for full-text of press release. Click here to view the Sentinel Event Alert.

November 2001
(11/20/01) JCAHO and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) have announced the inaugural winners of the Individual Leadership in Patient Safety Awards. The recipients are James Conway of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, and Gordon Sprenger formerly of Allina Health System, Minneapolis, MN. JCAHO and NCQA established these new awards to recognize excellence in creating and sustaining cultures of patient safety across health care organizations and health plans. Click here for full-text of press release.

(11/14/01) The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) today released a special 24-page issue of Perspectives, the Joint Commission's official newsletter, that provides guidance to health care organizations in preparing for terrorists attacks that may involve nuclear, biological, and/or chemical incidents. It also offers lessons learned from hospitals located near the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As part of this effort, JCAHO is paying particular attention to emergency management planning during its ongoing, onsite evaluations of hospitals and other health care organizations. Click here to read Perspectives issue.

(11/12/01) According to the American Hospital Association News, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has accepted an invitation by The Leapfrog Group, a Business Roundtable-sponsored program dedicated to improving patient safety, to become a formal partner. Prior to the formal agreement, JCAHO and the Leapfrog Group announced plans to pursue the identification of a specific set of intensive care unit-related measures. Formal partner status means the Leapfrog Group will seek JCAHO's advice and may partner with JCAHO on future initiatives.

(11/9/01) The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today announced the inaugural winners of their Individual Leadership in Patient Safety Awards. The recipients are James Conway of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, and Gordon Sprenger formerly of Allina Health System, Minneapolis, MN. JCAHO and NCQA, the nation's leading advocates for quality and safety in the provision of health care, established these new awards to recognize excellence in creating and sustaining cultures of patient safety across health care organizations and health plans. Click here for complete text.

October 2001
(10/10/01) The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) today called on Congress to act quickly to improve the nation's bioterrorism response capacity by developing system-wide, integrated community approaches to emergency management that are supported at the federal and state levels.

At bioterrorism hearings before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Joint Commission President Dennis S. O'Leary, M.D., emphasized that strong linkages between the medical care and public health systems are essential to effective bioterrorism preparation.

"We as a nation are not unprepared to deal with bioterrorism, but this country's public health and medical care systems could be better prepared than they are today," said Dr. O'Leary. We need to start addressing the identified needs with all due haste." Click here to read full-text of JCAHO press release.

July 2001
Effective July 1, 2001, "Revisions to Joint Commission Standards in Support of Patient Safety and Medical/Health Care Error Reduction".

Recognizing that effective medical/health care error reduction requires an integrated and coordinated approach, the following standards relate specifically to leadership's role in an organization-wide safety program that includes all activities within the organization which contribute to the maintenance and improvement of patient safety, such as performance improvement, environmental safety, and risk management. The standards do not require the creation of new structures or "offices" within the organization; rather, the standards emphasize the need to integrate all patient-safety activities, both existing and newly created, with an identified focus of accountability within the organization's leadership. Click here for related JCAHO press release.

About JCAHO: The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, the Joint Commission has developed state-of-the-art, professionally based standards and evaluated the compliance of health care organizations against these benchmarks. For more information see: www.jcaho.org.