The Joint Commission is a non-profit agency responsible for the accreditation of more than 21,00 healthcare organizations.
The agency’s accreditations are used as a condition to determine the receipt of CMS reimbursement, and therefore, greatly influence hospitals’ bottom lines and yearly revenue.
With three-year accreditation cycles and unannounced survey dates, preparing for the Joint Commission generally incites much anxiety among healthcare leaders. Organizations must be up-to-date with and in compliance of all standards, processes, policies, and procedures. This is no small task, and usually requires significant time and resources to ensure certification is met with little risk of standards being cited for improvement.
How are hospitals preparing for a Joint Commission Visit?
Depending on an organization’s current focus and internal initiatives, leaders may choose to implement technologies to help comply with specific standards, such as using care coordination software to receive the integrated care certification. While this type of program is helpful for the certification process, it is usually limited in scope and can leave organizations vulnerable to surprises and potential citations.
CipherHealth recently outlined the following three aspects of preparing:
- Joint Commission Readiness Rounds
- Addressing the Challenges of Preparing for the Joint Commission
- How to Enhance Joint Commission Readiness Rounds
To learn about these preparation tools, click here.